NASA will rely on them to send astronauts to the International Space StationAeronautical firms Boeing and SpaceX are expected to split a multi-billion dollar NASA contract to launch astronauts into low Earth orbit, according to multiple reports Tuesday. NASA is set to make an official announcement at 4 p.m. ET.
An unnamed source close to the deal told the Washington Post that both companies will get a share of the contract, though it's not yet clear how two companies with vastly different approaches to space launches will divide (rather than conquer) the responsibilities of ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station. Texas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives' Science Committee, likewise told Bloomberg the two companies would split the deal.
Boeing, with its decades of experience supplying parts and expertise to NASA, has been widely considered a favorite among the three companies vying for the NASA contract. SpaceX founder and billionaire Elon Musk criticized Boeing for being too close to NASA.
In either case, both companies are expected to compete on more favorable terms than the Russian government, which is charging the United States $71 million a seat for rides to the ISS while the U.S. is sans a spacecraft of its own. NASA retired the Space Shuttle in 2011, but its replacement craft, the Orion, isn't set for manned missions until after 2020. NASA is meanwhile planning to rely on private companies like Boeing and SpaceX to shuttle American astronauts between Earth and the ISS.
A third contender in the space race, Sierra Nevada, was not reported to secure a piece of the deal with its winged spacecraft, the Dream Chaser.
[WaPo]
Entities 0 Name: NASA Count: 8 1 Name: Boeing Count: 4 2 Name: SpaceX Count: 3 3 Name: ISS Count: 2 4 Name: Earth Count: 2 5 Name: Elon Musk Count: 1 6 Name: Sierra Nevada Count: 1 7 Name: U.S. Count: 1 8 Name: House of Representatives ' Science Committee Count: 1 9 Name: United States Count: 1 10 Name: Orion Count: 1 11 Name: Washington Post Count: 1 12 Name: Bloomberg Count: 1 13 Name: Eddie Bernice Johnson Count: 1 14 Name: Texas Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1BHv6OR Title: Boeing said to win NASA space taxi contract - CNET Description: Boeing seems set to win a lucrative contract to build space taxis for NASA, potentially beating out rival SpaceX in the process. According to the Wall Street Journal, Boeing, the Chicago-based aerospace giant, may well be the winner of the competition to build spacecraft that would take astronauts to and from orbit.
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