Charlie Bolden, NASA Administrator said "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".
With a total budget of $6.8 billion, the companies will build commerical vehicles for NASA. Boing will receive $4.2 billion, while Space Exploration Technologies the remaining $2.6 billion. With this bold move, NASA is confident it will achieve two major objectives. First, America will no longer depend on other nations to put its astronauts in space, ending Russia’s status as sole space transporter after the Space Shuttle ended in 2011. Second, the announcement will likely encourage other private American companies to concentrate on building space vehicles and technologies focused on low-earth orbits.
Bolden added: "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."
According to Lewis Mandell, financial economist, professor emeritus at SUNY Buffalo’s school of management, and dean of the institution, NASA’s decision to split the budget among the two companies is a great move, technological and financial.
