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NASA awards next round of Commercial Crew Development funding

By | April 18, 2011, 3:45 PM PDT

NASA has awarded four companies contracts to develop the next phase of its Commercial Crew Development Vehicle (CCDev2).

The agency gave the following companies contracts under the Space Act Agreement:

  • Boeing: $92.3 million;
  • Sierra Nevada Corp.: $80 million;
  • SpaceX: $75 million;
  • Blue Origin: $22 million.

The awards are part of NASA’s plan to outsource a low-Earth orbit vehicle and focus on deep space exploration. Ed Mango, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, said in a statement that “the next American-flagged vehicle to carry our astronauts into space is going to be a U.S. commercial provider.”

Related:

NASA in flux: Is U.S. space expertise being hollowed out?

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Larry Dignan

About Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is the editor-in-chief of SmartPlanet.

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan

Editor-in-Chief

Larry Dignan is editor-in-chief of SmartPlanet and ZDNet. He is also editorial director of TechRepublic. Previously, he was an editor at eWeek, Baseline and CNET News. He has written for WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, New York Times and Financial Planning. He holds degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the University of Delaware. He is based in New York but resides in Pennsylvania.

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Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan
Larry Dignan does not hold any investments in the companies he covers.
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