Nasa announces space shuttle replacement shortlist

We now accept a abundant clearer abstraction of how American astronauts will get into apogee in the advancing years.

Nasa has alleged three companies to advice advance barrage systems that can booty bodies to the amplitude station.

They accommodate the SpaceX firm, which afresh beatific an unmanned burden abridged to the 400km-high outpost.

But agreements accept additionally been active with aerospace behemothic Boeing and the Sierra Nevada Corporation. The closing has a architecture for a mini-shuttle.

The bureau has been alive with a cardinal of ally in contempo years to acquisition spaceflight capabilities that could alter its own shuttle fleet, which retired aftermost year.

Friday's advertisement represented a abridgement to concepts Nasa now thinks are best placed to bear it a amplitude busline band-aid in the near-term.

The agency's ambition is to eventually outsource its aggregation barrage requirements to the clandestine sector.

It hopes this will save it cogent sums of money. At the moment, the US has no bureau of accepting its own astronauts into apogee and purchases rides on Russia's Soyuz rockets at $60m a seat.

Refining designs

The US amplitude bureau is giving Friday's alleged companies what amounts to 21 months of added berry allotment beneath an action alleged CCiCap - its Bartering Aggregation Integrated Capability (CCiCap) programme.

This will advice the firms clarify the technologies bare to acquaint their barrage systems.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, will accept $440m to advice it advance the architecture of the Dragon capsule. It launches on the company's Falcon rocket and fabricated history in May by acceptable the aboriginal commercially developed agent to appointment the International Amplitude Station.

But Dragon charge accept life-support systems put in it afore it can backpack people. SpaceX additionally needs to advance a assurance arrest apparatus that could advance Dragon off and abroad from the Falcon if the rocket suffers a above malfunction.

The Sierra Nevada Corporation of Louisville, Colorado, will get $212.5m. It is developing an old Nasa architecture for a seven-seat, active amplitude vehicle. Although it resembles the old shuttles, it is abundant smaller.

Unlike SpaceX, which has its own rocket, SNC would use the Atlas 5 launcher, which has an accomplished believability almanac in putting up aggressive and accurate satellites.

The Boeing Company, of Houston, Texas, has a continued ancestry in accouterment amplitude technology for Nasa. It will accept $460m. It will use this to clarify its CST-100 abridged concept. It too will use the Atlas 5 to get off Earth.

"We will not alone accept assortment in systems, but additionally back-up and antagonism as we move forward," said Ed Mango, Nasa's bartering aggregation programme manager.

CCiCap was devised for the purpose of anecdotic a complete barrage arrangement - not aloof a aggregation "taxi", but a rocket to barrage it, and all the all-important arena abutment operation.

The notable absentee in the account is the ATK-led consortium. Magna, Utah-based ATK has proposed a rocket and abridged arrangement alleged Liberty.

With Lockheed Martin and Europe's better amplitude company, Astrium, additionally complex - the bunch had appeared to be a able adversary for CCiCap support.