Drawing of Boeing's CST-100 docking with International Space Station
NASA is planning to award contracts to both SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's CST-100 for the contract to deliver astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Nasa awards space contract to Boeing and SpaceX
The contracts, which are expected to be announced at 4 p.m. today, would allow the U.S. to get to the space station aboard American spacecraft instead of having to rely on the Russians, who charge more than $70 million a seat for the ride. The person familiar with the deal spoke on the condition of anonymity because the contract has not been awarded.
The awards represents a significant shift for NASA, which has long owned and operated its own rockets. Instead of going to space on government-owned rockets, NASA’s astronauts would essentially rent space on vehicles provided by Boeing and SpaceX. It was unclear how Boeing and SpaceX would divide the work and how big each company's contract would be.
The two companies represent vastly different cultures in the space industry. Boeing is a so-called “old space” stalwart with decades of experience. SpaceX is the upstart California-based company founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk that has sought to disrupt the industry.
Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, is already using its Dragon space craft to transport cargo the ISS, criticized the Boeing plan to use the Atlas V rocket to boost the planned CST-100 into space because it uses s Russian engine.
Boeing seems to have gained the upper hand by announcing a new joint venture with Blue Origin, another contestant founded Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, who is rumored to be willing to join the new venture to develop a American-made engine for the Atlas V, which we will learn more about in next article.
Andy Pasztor of the Wall Street Journal's online publication brings us the low-down on the Jeff Bezos angle, in Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos's Startup Is Part of Bid to Deliver Astronauts.
The long-secretive space ambitions of Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com Inc., AMZN +1.51% suddenly are about to get a lot more public.
Blue Origin LLC, the space-exploration startup Mr. Bezos has been quietly toiling over for years, is part of a team led by Boeing Co. BA +1.03% that is expected to soon garner a NASA contract to ferry astronauts to and from the international space station, according to people familiar with the matter.
Over the years, Blue Origin has sought to avoid publicity and disclosed only sketchy information about its work on advanced rocket engines, vertical takeoff and landing spacecraft and other cutting-edge space technologies. Some of the efforts prompted government interest and technical cooperation, but most were funded entirely by Blue Origin.
So we seem to have a super face off between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk the founder and CEO of of SpaceX.
I'll let you know NASA's final announcement in an update. President Obama is announcing a major US initiative to help Liberia and Western African nations with the Ebola epidemic with a military command and control center, treatment centers, and training so it is a busy end of afternoon.
1:29 PM PT: Thanks to Gooserock for bringing us this link to the confirmed announcement.
Julie Johnson, Bloomberg News Boeing and SpaceX will $6.8B contract for ferrying U.S. astronauts to space, hope to remove need for Russians by 2017
Boeing Co. and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. will split as much as $6.8 billion in federal funding to help the U.S. resume manned missions and end its dependence on Russian rockets.
The contract to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station will pay a maximum of $4.2 billion to Boeing and $2.6 billion to closely held SpaceX, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said today. A third contender, Sierra Nevada Corp., was shut out.
“The greatest nation on Earth should not be dependent on any other nation to get into space,” said one NASA administrator.
“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,” NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said in a statement. “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.”
1:35 PM PT: The cockpit of the Dragon space capsule
Please watch for updates where I will upload so awesome spacecraft photos and maybe even a video simulation of the Dragon landing on Mars which is part of Elon Musk's grander vision. I have to get some photos up and details for President Obama's big announcement of a major humanitarian effort to help Liberian fight the Ebolo epidemic. Doesn't it just figure that both press conferences are at the same time!