NASA Gets Back in the Space Race
In a press release dated September 16, NASA has announced that American astronauts will once again (finally) be traveling to the International Space Station by way of American technology.
Boeing and SpaceX have been contracted to transport U.S. space personnel to and from the ISS, using the CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively, with a goal of ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia in 2017. This comes in the wake of relations between the U.S. and Russia becoming tense after events in Crimea and the Ukraine. For the past several years, U.S. astronauts have had to rely on Russian spacecraft for transportation to the ISS in the wake of the retirement of the American space shuttle program and cancellation of the Orion project.
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden: “…today we are one step closer to launching our astronauts from U.S. soil on American spacecraft and ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia by 2017. Turning over low-Earth orbit transportation to private industry will also allow NASA to focus on an even more ambitious mission – sending humans to Mars.”
The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts awarded to Boeing and SpaceX, are designed to complete the NASA certification for human space transportation systems capable of carrying people into orbit. Once certification is complete, NASA plans to use these systems to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and return them safely to Earth. The contract for Boeing is $4.2 billion, while the SpaceX contract is $2.6 billion, and each contract includes at least one manned test flight per company.
“We are excited to see our industry partners close in on operational flights to the International Space Station, an extraordinary feat industry and the NASA family began just four years ago,” said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “This space agency has long been a technology innovator, and now we also can say we are an American business innovator, spurring job creation and opening up new markets to the private sector. The agency and our partners have many important steps to finish, but we have shown we can do the tough work required and excel in ways few would dare to hope.”
The announcement that both companies had received contracts came as a surprise to some, given that Boeing and SpaceX are rivals in the field. Some comments on discussion boards are already calling out the decision as at least partially political, with Boeing part of the “military-industrial complex” (see our H2O discussion about Internet behavior…).
