NASA getting ready to return to space

[brennan]

Nasa picks astronaut crew ship designs

The US space agency Nasa has picked the companies it hopes can take the country's astronauts back into space.

It is awarding up $6.2bn to the Boeing and SpaceX firms, to help them finish the development of new crew capsules.

Since the space shuttles were retired in 2011, the Americans have relied on Russia and its Soyuz vehicles to get to the International Space Station.

Boeing and SpaceX should have their seven-person crew ships ready to take over the role by late 2017.

Disagreements over Moscow's actions in Ukraine have made the current Soyuz arrangement increasingly unpalatable for Washington.

So has the price per flight now being charged - at $70m (£43m) per US astronaut seat. American officials regard this as excessive.

The Obama administration charged Nasa in 2010 with the job of "seeding" indigenous, competing companies to restore American capability.

Since then, the agency has released nearly $1.5bn in funding, with most of this money going to Boeing in Texas, California's SpaceX and a third firm - the Colorado-based Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC).

At last. Even if partly contributed to by the frictions with Russia.

 

[warpus]

I am VERY excited about all of this.

I think everyone at NASA has started playing Kerbal Space Program. Hopefully they're using enough struts in their designs.

 

[peter grimes]

Hah! I have yet to use a single strut in any mission. I also have yet to complete any mission

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Best news I heard all year

I want a little sub beneath the ice of Europa bobbing along looking for life with a live feed. Preferably before I die.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Hopefully, they might rescue Spirit from Mars and then put him among the heroes of America.

 

[peter grimes]

Relevant:
https://xkcd.com/695/

 

[gay_Aleks]

That's pretty much to what I was referring.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I watched a documentary following these two rovers, and at the end I actually felt sorry for them.

I blame Short Circuit.

 

[peter grimes]

I love that Tolni avoided the ultimate preposition. I the "rule" is stupid, but I delight in seeing it observed.

 

[gay_Aleks]

What would that mean? Skipped out a few Is, did I?

 

[peter grimes]

I screwed up the last sentence. should have read
"I think the "rule" is stupid..."

Ending a sentence with a preposition is considered bad style by some. But it can lead to some interesting circumlocutions. Nonetheless, according to Winston Churchill "it is something up with which I will not put"

 

[El_Machinae]

Hopefully, they might rescue Spirit from Mars and then put him among the heroes of America.

That would be glorious!

A quest. Maybe not for our age, but certainly for SOME age

 

[hobbsyoyo]

This is something that Obama has gotten very right about the Space Program. He's sort of neglected the NASA-led manned flight program (underfunded the SLS consistently) but he's doing the right thing in funding private efforts.

The entry costs for any rocket provider are enormous so having the government bridge that gap through funding (that is tied to real-world deliverables like rides to the space station) is a great idea because private companies just won't do this sort of thing without the help.

It's a very exciting time to be in the aerospace business.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Would that mean you'll benefit from that? Maybe even have your very own rocket?