In the Tuesday, September 16, 2014, the head of NASA, Charles Bolden (Charles Bolden) called the company winning the tender, which will be engaged in transporting astronauts to the ISS in the next few years. The ceremony took place at Kennedy Space Center, from the territory of which will be carried out shuttle launch in the coming years.
The program matches partners from the private sector was launched NASA, to complete costly for the United States to cooperate with Russia in the framework of sending astronauts to the ISS . Agency officials said that in 2017 the American space explorers will be forwarded to the orbital outpost from Cape Canaveral. However, according to Bolden, safety for the timing and money NASA is not going to sacrifice.
The tender was awarded to Boeing and SpaceX. NASA for both companies – a long and reliable partners. Boeing at one time helped build most of the ISS and the space shuttle, while SpaceX transports payloads and designing launch vehicles.
NASA will pay Boeing $ 4,2 billion (160 billion rubles), and SpaceX – $ 2.6 billion (98 billion rubles). These funds will be used for certification testing and flights of new space capsules. Both contracts also involve the implementation of at least six space missions with a crew of four people in each, as well as the supply of goods and scientific experiments.
The head of SpaceX Elon Musk (Elon Musk) and top managers of Boeing expressed gratitude to the NASA for their choice and vowed to justify the trust.
The third major contender for victory was Sierra Nevada Corporation, which recently unveiled its mini-shuttle Dream Chaser. NASA representatives did not share the details of its decision and refused to tell why the Sierra Nevada Corporation was kind of a loser.
Recall that American astronauts are Russian missiles as long as the NASA space shuttles have been written off for scrap in 2011. In recent years, the cost of one room for one astronaut USA in the Russian rocket was $ 71 million (2.7 billion rubles), and NASA sends to the ISS on its four astronauts annually. Company SpaceX announced that it is now the cost of transporting one person to and from the ISS will be only $ 20 million (760 million rubles).
“From the first day of its work the Obama administration has made it clear that the greatest nation on land should not depend on any other nation, when it is necessary to send a man into space, “- said Bolden at a press conference.
Note that SpaceX became the first private company in the history that gave its staff on orbit and returned to Earth in 2010. The famous capsule SpaceX Dragon made its first flight in 2012, sending astronauts to the ISS. Now Dragon cabin has been expanded to seven seats and was named Dragon V2 (“version 2″).
Boeing won the bid with a capsule-shuttle called CST -100. In the future, engineers will build new shuttles using the old buildings are written off to the scrap capsules NASA.
The new contract with NASA large private companies and will benefit the economy of the country: according to the calculations of experts alone, Boeing will create 550 new jobs sites at Cape Canaveral, which is good news for the region.
Both built spacecraft will have to meet strict safety standards. Capsule CST-100 will move to the rocket Atlas V, while SpaceX will use its own rocket Falcon 9. NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke (Mike Fincke) noted that although the capsule will not be too large, space scientists confer on them greater Hope.
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