NASA to Make Major Announcement Today About Astronaut Transport to the ISS

I can only imagine it is related to this announcement from SpaceX...<p><a href="http://www.spacex.com/press/2012/12/19/nasa-selects-spacex-return-americans-space" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spacex.com&#x2F;press&#x2F;2012&#x2F;12&#x2F;19&#x2F;nasa-selects-spacex-r...</a><p>&quot;Hawthorne, CA – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) today won a $440 million contract with NASA to develop the successor to the Space Shuttle and transport American astronauts into space.&quot;<p>&quot;SpaceX expects to undertake its first manned flight by 2015 – a timetable that capitalizes on the proven success of the company&#x27;s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft combination. While Dragon is initially being used to transport cargo to the International Space Station, both Dragon and Falcon 9 were designed from the beginning to carry crew.&quot;

According to the follow sources, one of the winners is Boeing in a joint effort with Jeff Bezos&#x27; company Blue Origin:<p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/16/us-boeing-lockheed-martin-bezos-idUSKBN0HB0UU20140916" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reuters.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;2014&#x2F;09&#x2F;16&#x2F;us-boeing-lockheed...</a><p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2014/09/16/reports-boeing-to-beat-out-spacex-for-nasa-contract-thanks-to-jeff-bezos/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;sites&#x2F;alexknapp&#x2F;2014&#x2F;09&#x2F;16&#x2F;reports-boe...</a><p><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/news/1984465-boeing-lockheed-bezos-to-develop-new-rocket-engine" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;seekingalpha.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;1984465-boeing-lockheed-bezos-t...</a><p><a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/boeing-said-to-win-nasa-space-taxi-contract/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnet.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;boeing-said-to-win-nasa-space-taxi-...</a>

if it goes like a typical gov contract then Boeing wins and later it buys rides on SpaceX when its own dev program costs spirals out of control with no real progress in sight.

According to this article Boeing beat SpaceX.<p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2014/09/16/reports-boeing-to-beat-out-spacex-for-nasa-contract-thanks-to-jeff-bezos/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.forbes.com&#x2F;sites&#x2F;alexknapp&#x2F;2014&#x2F;09&#x2F;16&#x2F;reports-boe...</a>

Looks like they are going to announce the CCtCAP award winners: <a href="http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/rumors-swirl-about-imminent-cctcap-announcement" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spacepolicyonline.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;rumors-swirl-about-imm...</a>

Washington Post: NASA to award space contract to Boeing and SpaceX<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/09/16/nasa-awards-space-contract-to-boeing-and-spacex/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;blogs&#x2F;the-switch&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2014&#x2F;09&#x2F;16...</a><p>&gt; NASA plans to award a much-anticipated, multi-billion dollar contract to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station to both Boeing and SpaceX, according a person familiar with the process.

Result:<p><i>&quot;The partnership w&#x2F; @Boeing &amp; @SpaceX promises to give more people the opportunity to experience the exhilaration of spaceflight&quot;</i><p><a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/511970135935295488" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;NASA&#x2F;status&#x2F;511970135935295488</a>

Boeing is being selected due to its being the &quot;least risky&quot; option.<p>IMHO NASA needs to start taking some risks. It is amazingly slow and inept. So much so that I would consider shutting it down completely and allocating the money we spend as grants over the next 10 years to get private industry viable.<p>When the Dutch group asked for volunteers for its one way mission to Mars, how many viable candidates signed up? 10,000? NASA ruled during the 60s, since then it has been just another government bureaucracy.

Is it just me or is the &quot;Launch America&quot; banner completely ridiculous? Of course NASA is government agency and the subject is highly political, but still...

Less money going to Russia the better, now if only they would do the same for the middle-east.

Boeing CST-100 awarded $4.2 billion and SpaceX Dragon $2.6 billion.

I really dislike announcements of announcements.

Boeing, SpaceX, Lockheed?

&quot;Astronauts now given free* pouch of Snapple for their ascent.&quot;<p>*to the astronaut. $4.2bn per pouch from Lockheed-Snapple.

&quot;SpaceX is scheduled to launch its fourth operational cargo mission to the ISS, SpaceX CRS-4, this Saturday, September 20.&quot;<p>My guess is spacex got disqualified so boeing won because elon was found stowing away in a space suit in this saturday&#x27;s launcher. That would severely ruffle some feathers.