NASA Awards Next Set Of Commercial Crew Development Agreements

WASHINGTON -- 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, Wash., $22 million
-- Sierra Nevada Corporation, Louisville, Colo., $80 million
-- Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Hawthorne, Calif., $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."

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. For more information
about NASA's Commercial Crew Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration

Source: NASA

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