Tue, Apr 19, 2011
Second Round Of Contracts Awarded To Four Companies
NASA has awarded four Space Act Agreements in the second round
of the agency's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev2) effort. Each
company will receive between $22 million and $92.3 million to
advance commercial crew space transportation system concepts and
mature the design and development of elements of their systems,
such as launch vehicles and spacecraft.
The selectees for CCDev2 awards are:
- Blue Origin, Kent, WA, $22 million.
- Sierra Nevada Corporation, Louisville, CO, $80 million.
- Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Hawthorne, CA, $75
million.
- The Boeing Company, Houston, $92.3 million.
"We're committed to safely transporting U.S. astronauts on
American-made spacecraft and ending the outsourcing of this work to
foreign governments," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said.
"These agreements are significant milestones in NASA's plans to
take advantage of American ingenuity to get to low-Earth orbit, so
we can concentrate our resources on deep space exploration."
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden
The goal of CCDev2 is to accelerate the availability of U.S.
commercial crew transportation capabilities and reduce the gap in
American human spaceflight capability. Through this activity, NASA
also may be able to spur economic growth as potential new space
markets are created. Once developed, crew transportation
capabilities could become available to commercial and government
customers.
"The next American-flagged vehicle to carry our astronauts into
space is going to be a U.S. commercial provider," said Ed Mango,
NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager. "The partnerships NASA is
forming with industry will support the development of multiple
American systems capable of providing future access to low-Earth
orbit."
These awards are a continuation of NASA's CCDev initiatives,
which began in 2009 to stimulate efforts within U.S. industry to
develop and demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities.
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