spacetoday.net: NASA selects Boeing, SNC, SpaceX for commercial crew awards

Posted: Fri, Aug 3, 2012, 5:40 PM ET (2140 GMT)
Boeing CST-100 illustration

NASA announced Friday that it has signed funded agreements worth over $1.1 billion with three companies for the next phase of its commercial crew development program. Under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) agreements, Boeing will get $460 million, SpaceX $440 million, and Sierra Nevada Corporation $212.5 million. The companies will have to achieve a series of milestones to earn the money, with the potential of optional milestones for additional funding. The purpose of CCiCap is to mature the designs of the companies' commercial crew transportation systems to near or through critical design review (CDR). Later contracts will cover the actual vehicle development and NASA certification. NASA hopes to have the vehicles ready to enter service, transporting astronauts to and from the ISS, by 2017; some companies have suggested they could be ready as early as 2015. ATK, a company that proposed its Liberty launch system, was not selected for an award.