This morning, NASA announced three winners of its competition to deliver astronauts to and from low Earth orbit and the International Space Station, in particular. Space Explorations Technologies, Inc. (SpaceX) and the Boeing Corporation each won major awards of $440 million and $460 million, respectively, with about half as much, $212 million, going to Sierra Nevada Corporation.

The awards come about two months after SpaceX demonstrated the capability of its pressurized Dragon capsule to rendezvous and berth with the ISS in late May. Dragon still needs a life-support system, a full docking system, and a launch abort system to carry crew to and from space, though this award should accelerate the development of those features. Neither Boeing's nor Sierra Nevada's vehicles have flown in space yet, though Boeing's CST-100 capsule has been drop-tested, and there are plans for drop tests of Sierra Nevada's lifting body at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center later this year.

The competitors for NASA money had to offer both a vehicle to carry crew and a reliable launcher to get it into space. SpaceX, Boeing, Blue Origin (the company founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos), and Alliant Techsystems (ATK), have all been working on capsules, while Sierra Nevada is developing a winged entry vehicle called the Dream Chaser that lands on a runway. As for the launcher, SpaceX proposed its own Falcon 9 rocket to carry the Dragon to orbit, while Boeing, Blue Origin, and Sierra Nevada would use the Atlas V rocket by United Launch Alliance. ATK would use its own proposed Liberty rocket for its capsule, which was derived from NASA's Orion deep-space capsule and subcontracted to Lockheed Martin. Finally, Excalibur Almaz, a company based on the Isle of Man, proposed the use of existing Soviet hardware that it has purchased from Russia, and would presumably go up on Russian rockets.

The awards to Boeing, SpaceX, and Sierra Nevada are the latest step in NASA's ongoing plan to nurture private spaceflight companies, which it hopes can take up the task of carrying astronauts to the ISS, one that fell exclusively to the Russians once the space shuttle retired. But this past spring, it looked like that plan of supporting numerous competitors was in danger. Some in Congress, primarily NASA Appropriations Chairman Frank Wolf of Virginia, had been pressuring the agency to select a single provider immediately to "save money." However, with the recent successful flight of SpaceX's Dragon capsule to and from the ISS, Wolf was persuaded to let the competition continue.

The rationale was that competition not only would drive down prices but also allow multiple providers. That way, NASA would not be dependent again on a single American means of getting its astronauts into orbit, which spells trouble if one spacecraft suffers mechanical failures. (The space shuttle program was down for more than five years total during its lifetime for investigations after accidents.) Congress and NASA worked out a compromise that let the agency fund "two and a half" winners. That is, two providers would be fully funded, and one at a lower number. Sierra Nevada is apparently the "half." (Although Ed Mango, head of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, insisted that we shouldn't think of them as full or half, but just the money needed to get the job done in each case.)

Those companies not awarded contracts are not necessarily out of the competition to ferry NASA astronauts. They can keep building and offer NASA their services in future phases. They'll just have to do it with their own money and not taxpayer assistance, for now. Whether or not they are willing to do so will depend on several factors: how deep their pockets are, what they think the prospects of getting back in the game are, and what markets they foresee beyond NASA ISS crew support. For example, Bigelow Aerospace plans private space facilities, for which they have memorandums of understanding with several "sovereign clients"—i.e., countries such as Japan or the Netherlands.

Whichever company or companies NASA ultimately selects for carrying its crew, the new spacecraft will go beyond a shuttle replacement in one important way. Ever since the ISS was first occupied more than a decade ago, Russia has provided ISS lifeboat service, since the space shuttle never had the ability to stay at the station for more than a week or two. All of the new vehicles are designed for an orbital life of several months. And with room for seven they are larger than the three-passenger Soyuz. This is important, and not just because it eliminate NASA's dependence on the Russians, with whom relations can be rocky. These new spacecraft would also allow an expansion of ISS crew capacity, currently limited by lifeboat size. Because of the maintenance required for the facility, only one crew member on average can do actual research. Adding to the crew by having a bigger lifeboat would multiply the amount of science generated on orbit.

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