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NASA turns to Boeing, SpaceX for spacecraft to end dependence on Russia

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Boeing and SpaceX have been selected to build vehicles to carry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, ending U.S. dependence on other countries for this purpose.

The $6.8 billion contract signed on Tuesday will put NASA launch missions in the hands of U.S. private companies.

U.S. astronauts have been traveling to and from the ISS on Russia’s Soyuz since the end of the NASA’s space shuttle program in 2011.

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“From day one, the Obama administration has made it clear that the greatest nation on earth should not be dependent on other nations to get into space,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said at a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Bolden said the plan calls for the new vehicles to be operational by 2017.

NASA will pay $4.2 billion to Boeing while SpaceX, owned by PayPal founder Elon Musk, will receive $2.6 billion.

Boeing’s space capsule, CST100, and SpaceX’s space rocket, Dragon, will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center.

The United States pays over $70 million for every astronaut sent to the ISS using the Russian Soyuz.

Bolden pointed out that involving private companies in low earth orbit missions will allow NASA “to focus on a more ambitious mission: sending humans to Mars.”

The contract allows the companies to render similar space transport services to other clients besides NASA, which will reduce the costs for all end users.

NASA has specified that both vehicles will have to undergo the agency’s safety tests and protocols before they begin manned missions to space.

In 2012, the SpaceX Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to carry cargo to the space station.

Other companies are also competing in this new “space race,” such as Nevadabased Sierra Nevada Corp. which is working on Dream Chaser, a spaceship based on NASA’s HL20 that has the capacity to carry up to seven astronauts.