“The new deals represent the final round of NASA’s Commercial Crew integrated Capability program  (CCiCap), which aims to foster the design and development of new private spaceships to fill the current gap in U.S. human spaceflight capabilities.

The selected companies are:

• Sierra Nevada Corporation, headquartered in Louisville, Colo.
• Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), headquartered in Hawthorne, Calif.
• The Boeing Company, headquartered in Houston

As part of the new agreements, Sierra Nevada will receive $212.5 million, SpaceX will receive $440 million, and Boeing will receive $460 million. Boeing and SpaceX are developing private space capsules, with Sierra Nevada taking a different path with its winged Dream Chaser space plane design.

“The ultimate goal of our commercial crew program is to bring American space launches right back here to American soil,” NASA Chief Charles Bolden said.”

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