NASA's commercial crew transportation live announcement | Hacker News Reader

NASA's commercial crew transportation live announcement

nasa.gov

22 pointspzaich10 comments

If you missed it or can't watch, Boeing and SpaceX both received contracts for commercial crew missions to the international space station. Boeing will receive a contract for $4.2 billion for development of its CST-100 capsule, and SpaceX will receive a contract for $2.6 billion for Dragon 2.

The contract specifies between 2 and maximum of 6 missions (each), and includes the certification process. Each contract has the same requirements.

Where did you get that information?

http://blogs.nasa.gov/bolden/2014/09/16/american-companies-s...

> Today, we don’t know who is going to get to command the first mission to carry humans into low-Earth orbit on a spacecraft built by an American private company, but we know it will be a seminal moment in NASA history and a major achievement for our nation.

Really? This is pretty sad. Going to low-Earth orbit is neither a "seminal moment" for NASA nor a "major achievement" for America.

It is for commercial spaceflight. Commitment-wise, private companies are on the level of early 60's NASA. This is the next phase for human space travel, and the first step in that should be celebrated as an achievement.

I guess I don't see how this is historic. NASA has always hired contractors to build their spacecraft for them. North American Aviation built the Apollo CSM, and the LM was built by Grumman.

This isn't like Virgin Galactic and SpaceShipTwo, with a private company offering spaceflight to civilians.

this is more than just building. It's operating, maintaining, designing and launching, all private. It's essentially the way they worked with the Russians. That's a big step up from hiring contractors to build something for you. And no, it isn't civilian spaceflight yet, but a lot of the technology and science will be useful for that, and it's a stepping stone.

Fair enough. If that's true, it still means that "the first mission to carry humans into low-Earth orbit on a spacecraft built by an American private company..." is inaccurate/disappointing.

NASA made a great decision here. They encourage competition and cooperation, and can support 2 companies at a time rather than create an artificial monopoly. They chose a long-term option rather than putting all their eggs in one basket, which would be cheaper for them now but less interesting for future developments.

;tldr Boeing & SpaceX

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