the target orbit, the second stage would wait in orbit until it was above the targeted landing site, at which point it would fire its reaction control thrusters to deorbit. The vehicle would reenter nose-first, shielded by a thermal protection system at the tip of the payload module. From this point, the second stage would follow the same recovery profile as the first stage, deploying parachutes and making a soft impact with airbags. Progress on design and construction Design work on the K-1 began in 1994, and was complete enough for subcontracts by 1996. The vehicle was originally planned to be in operation by 2000, but delays resulted in the first vehicle only being 75% complete in August 2004. Major partners/subcontractors included: Lockheed Martin: Tanks and Vehicle Assembly GenCorp Aerojet: Propulsion Systems Northrop Grumman: Vehicle Structure Draper Laboratory: Guidance: Navigation and Control and Mission Control System AlliedSignal Aerospace: Vehicle Management System Irvin Aerospace: Landing System (parachutes, and maybe airbags) Oceaneering Thermal Systems: Thermal Protection System Reynolds, Smith, and Hills/Leighton Contractors: Launch Facility Cancellation In October 2007 Rocketplane Kistler, the company that was building the K-1, lost its contract with NASA for the COTS program over failure to meet funding targets. Subsequently, Kistler experienced financial trouble which necessitated widespread employee layoffs. The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2010, and though it was reconstituted as Kistler Space Systems, no progress on the K-1 vehicle (or, for that matter, any Kistler venture) has been reported since late December 2010. See also Commercial Orbital Transportation Services List of private spaceflight companies#Crew and cargo transport vehicles List of space launch system designs Rocketplane Limited, Inc. References External links Kistler Web site for the K-1 Vehicle, incl. link to component diagram Space launch vehicles of the United States Cancelled space launch vehicles