NASA has selected a company headed by South African-born Elon Musk to build America’s next spacecraft to carry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2017, opening the way to a new chapter in human spaceflight.
Boeing and SpaceX were named on Tuesday to build the craft, which the space agency has hailed as another step toward ending America’s reliance on Russian vehicles for access to low-Earth orbit.
NASA, which has been unable to send astronauts to space since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, awarded a total of $6.8 billion (R74.2bn) to the two companies for their respective spacecraft.
SpaceX is headed by internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, who made his fortune as co-founder of PayPal and also serves as chief executive officer of Tesla Motors.
Musk left South Africa at 17, to avoid serving in the then-SADF.
“The total potential contract value is $4.2bn for Boeing and $2.6bn for SpaceX,” NASA administrator, Charles Bolden, said. “It was not an easy choice, but it is the best choice for NASA and the nation.”
The agency has spent more than $1.4bn since 2010 to help private companies including SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada – which lost out yesterday – to develop their own crew transport vehicles.
With the end of the 30-year space shuttle programme, the world’s space powers have had to rely on Russia’s Soyuz for transporting scientists to the orbiting outpost, at a cost of $70 million a seat.
“From day one, the (President Barack) Obama administration has made it clear that the greatest nation on Earth should not be dependent on other nations to get into space,” Bolden said.
“Thanks to the leadership of President Obama and the hard work of our Nasa and industry teams, today we are one step closer to launching our astronauts from US soil on American spacecraft and ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia by 2017.”
Boeing has received the largest amount of Nasa funds – $620.8m not including Tuesday’s award – to help build its commercial crew vehicle.
Boeing’s acorn-shaped space capsule is called the Crew Space Transportation-100, or CST-100 for short, and designed to carry up to seven passengers or a mix of crew and cargo to the space station, which circles the planet in low-Earth orbit.
California-based SpaceX has already been awarded $554.5m to develop its crew vehicle, based on the Dragon cargo carrier it designed and which in 2010 became the first private spaceship to complete an unmanned resupply mission to the ISS.
Musk unveiled the Dragon Version Two, or V2 in May.
Shaped like a gum drop and painted gleaming white with blue accents, the Dragon V2 is designed to be able to “land propulsively almost anywhere on Earth,” and could carry up to seven crew members.
“SpaceX is deeply honoured by the trust Nasa has placed in us,” Musk said.
“We welcome today’s decision and the mission it advances with gratitude and seriousness of purpose. It is a vital step in a journey that will ultimately take us to the stars and make humanity a multi-planet species.”
Sapa-AFP