The US-based space agency NASA has picked two leading astrological firms of the US; SpaceX and Boeing for its upcoming Space exploration Projects, scheduled for November this year. As per the fresh reports, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has signed two deals, each with SpaceX and Boeing for sending astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), as early as November 2017.
On Tuesday, NASA has a public announcement of its new deal with Space X, headed by Elon Musk and Dennis Muilenburg’s Boeing. Both agencies have been granted for the new operations under the Commercial Crew Program of NASA. The new contracts have brought up each of their total NASA agreements to six. For now, the contracts do not include the payment, and it will be added in the later stage, said NASA in a statement.
Both US-based organizations – the SpaceX and Boeing entered into their first contract with NASA in 2014 in order to perform a space taxi service and now, with the new mission, the amount struck number 6 for both agencies. During the mission, the extra flights will allow SpaceX and Boeing to prepare for the forthcoming missions of NASA, as well as will help them to fulfill the transportation needs of the International Space Station (ISS), confirmed NASA. After the new mission, both Boeing and SpaceX will each handle six operations of NASA, but only after their prescribed technology qualify for NASA certification. Currently, NASA astronauts are using Russian Soyuz spacecraft go to and from the ISS.
As said by NASA, Boeing will give an uncrewed flight test, which is named as an Orbital Flight Test. The test program is slated for June 2018, while its crewed flight experiment is scheduled for August 2018. On the other hand, SpaceX is currently in a better position than Boeing. The progress of SpaceX is allegedly going much faster with an unmanned flight test which is planned for November 2017. Similarly, its crewed flight test is programmed for May 2018.
Speaking on this matter, Phil McAlister, The director of NASA’s Commercial Spaceflight Development Division on Tuesday said, “Adding these missions with these two leading private companies will enable NASA to get better stability for the future space missions associated with ISS. The new deals will not only decrease schedule and economic indecision but also give our astronauts a better and greater constancy in the schedule rotation of ISS.”