Florida's 'Journey into Space' to Resume by 2017
www.sunshinestatenews.com | Thursday, Sep 18, 2014
This week, NASA announced new private-public partnerships to revive the
American space programs with new manned space flight efforts by 2017.
On
Tuesday, at a media event at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA unveiled an
agreement with Boeing and SpaceX to transport American astronauts to
the International Space Station. Boeing’s CST-100 and SpaceX’s Crew
Dragon spacecrafts will carry out the missions.
Currently, with the end of the space shuttle program, the American space
effort relies on Russia’s program to send astronauts into space.
"From
day one, the Obama administration made clear that the greatest nation
on Earth should not be dependent on other nations to get into space,"
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said on Tuesday "Thanks to the
leadership of President Obama, the hard work of our NASA and industry
teams, and support from Congress, today we are one step closer to
launching our astronauts from U.S. soil on American spacecraft and
ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia by 2017. Turning over
low-Earth orbit transportation to private industry will also allow NASA
to focus on an even more ambitious mission – sending humans to Mars."
Boeing will get $4.2 billion under the new arrangement while SpaceX will receive $2.6 billion.
The announcement won the applause of Florida‘s political leadership.
“Today’s
announcement from NASA marks an important milestone for our nation’s
space program and is an exciting development for Florida and the
commercial space industry,” said U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., after
the partnerships were announced. “These partnerships will ensure that
American astronauts are once again launched into space from American
soil. As the nation’s spaceport, Florida’s Space Coast will play a
crucial role in advancing this initiative and exploring low-Earth orbit.
I, along with all Floridians, look forward to seeing our astronauts
launch from Kennedy Space Center once again.”
Frank DiBello, the
CEO of Space Florida which leads efforts to ensure the Sunshine State
remains at the vanguard of space exploration, also said the new
partnerships were good news for the state.
“Today’s announcement
is continued good news for Florida and for the nation,” DiBello said.
“It advances a new era in space transportation and is the next major
step toward restoring U.S. capability to fly astronauts to the ISS and
beyond. Both Boeing and SpaceX have already invested significant time
and resources into establishing commercial crew operations here in
Florida and we look forward to working hand-in-hand with both companies
to make their upcoming missions successful.”
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