CHICAGO (dpa-AFX) - NASA said Tuesday that it has selected Boeing Co. (BA) and billionaire Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or Space X, to transport U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station from U.S. soil using their CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively, with a goal of ending the nation's sole reliance on Russia in 2017.
The maximum potential value of the FAR-based firm fixed-price contracts is $6.8 billion - $4.2 billion for Boeing and $2.6 billion for SpaceX, the U.S. space agency said.
'From day one, the Obama Administration made clear that the greatest nation on Earth should not be dependent on other nations to get into space,' NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 'Thanks to the leadership of President Obama, the hard work of our NASA and industry teams, and support from Congress, today 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. 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.'
The contracts include at least one crewed flight test per company with at least one NASA astronaut aboard to verify the fully integrated rocket and spacecraft system can launch, maneuver in orbit, and dock to the space station, as well as validate all its systems perform as expected.
Once each company's test program has been completed successfully and its system achieves NASA certification, each contractor will conduct at least two, and as many as six, crewed missions to the space station. The spacecraft also will serve as a lifeboat for astronauts aboard the station.
The U.S. missions to the International Space Station following certification will allow the station's current crew of six to grow, enabling the crew to conduct more research aboard the unique microgravity laboratory.
The companies will own and operate the crew transportation systems and be able to sell human space transportation services to other customers in addition to NASA, thereby reducing the costs for all customers, NASA noted.
Boeing shares closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $127.32, up $1.01, and gained an additional 43 cents in after hours trading.
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