NASA, Boeing Announce Human Spaceflight Contract

For the first time, NASA has announced a contract with a private company, Boeing, to carry out an International Space Station (ISS) crew rotation mission. Boeing will prepare a CST-100 crew capsule by 2017 in order to complete this mission. SpaceX, a competitor of Boeing, is already delivering cargo to the ISS, and its crew capsule is being tested for safety. Since NASA discontinued its human spaceflight efforts in 2011, Russia’s space agency has been shuttling astronauts to and from the ISS.