NASA picks SpaceX, Boeing for private space taxis to ISS

NASA will partner with Boeing Co. and SpaceX to build commercially owned and operated "space taxis" for flying astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), ending U.S. dependence on Russia for rides, officials said. The deal appears likely to speed up the development of space tourism as well.

The announcement on Tuesday comes amid the increasing privatization of space travel, after NASA retired its fleet in 2011. Space tourism began more than a decade ago with a few billionaires hitching rides to the ISS, and has now become a booming industry dedicated to picking up where NASA left off after lawmakers approved severe cuts to the agency's budget last year.

The space agency has spent about $1.5 billion since 2010 investing in partner companies under its Commercial Crew program.

Under the NASA deal, Boeing and SpaceX will retain ownership of their vehicles and can sell rides to customers outside of NASA — including private tourists.

"The work that we have underway … is making the possibility for everyone to someday see our planet Earth from space," said Kennedy Space Center director and former astronaut Bob Cabana.

"I know a lot of us are cheering on the success of our Commercial Crew program, not because of what it means to NASA … but what it means to human spaceflight for everyone," Cabana said.

Boeing was awarded $4.2 billion under the deal, and $2.6 billion will go to SpaceX. The company is run by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is also the chief executive officer of electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors.

“SpaceX is deeply honored by the trust NASA has placed in us," said Musk, a South Africa-born, Canadian-American billionaire. "It is a vital step in a journey that will ultimately take us to the stars and make humanity a multi-planet species."

The deal positions Boeing and SpaceX to be ready for commercial flight services in 2017, said Kathy Leuders, manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew program. She said both contracts have the same requirements.

"The companies proposed the value within which they were able to do the work and the government accepted that," Leuders told reporters in a conference call.

Boeing's CST-100 spaceship will be launched aboard Atlas 5 rockets, built by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corp. SpaceX, which already has a $1.3 billion NASA contract to fly cargo to the space station, intends to upgrade its Dragon freighter to carry astronauts.

NASA has said that in addition to test flights, the deal will include options for two to six operational missions.

By flying astronauts commercially from the United States, NASA could end Russia's monopoly on space station crew transport. The agency pays $70 million per person for rides on Russian Soyuz capsules, the only flights available for astronauts since the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet in 2011.

The Boeing-SpaceX program takes on new urgency amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Russia over recent events in Ukraine. China, the only other country to fly people in orbit besides the U.S. and Russia, is not a member of the 15-nation space station partnership.

The program is based on a public-private partnership that created two cargo lines to the station, a research laboratory that flies about 260 miles above Earth.

Reuters