Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Nasa Announces Private Space Shuttle Deal

NASA
Nasa has appointed Boeing and SpaceX to ferry its astronauts to the International Space Station, in a giant step toward returning human spaceflight to US soil. Since retiring its fleet of shuttles three years ago, the space agency's crew have been hitching rides on Russian transport - at a cost of $70m per seat - to reach the habitable satellite. 
Nasa officials made the announcement at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where the launches should lift off in several years' time. The space agency is offering contracts worth $6.8bn (£4.2bn) in funding for the first commercial flight of humans into orbit. Boeing has a history with the US space programme going back half a century. SpaceX is already delivering cargo to the space station. It is backed by Tesla owner Elon Musk, who dreams of colonising Mars. 
INC News, 16/09/2014

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