“I’ve said many times that I think — obviously by the fact that I’m gambling a half-billion dollars here — commercial space has a pretty strong supporter in me as NASA administrator,” Griffin said in a recent interview. “If it doesn’t work, I’ve frankly made the wrong bet … with a good amount of money that we could have used for other purposes if the entrepreneurial sector is, in fact, not able to step up.”
That $500 million wager has been placed on two very different firms that both have the same goal: building a vehicle that will meet NASA’s need for a new way to deliver supplies to the international space station after the space shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.
The two winners of the COTS demonstration contracts NASA awarded Aug. 18 — Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Rocketplane Kistler — both intend to develop new kerosene-fueled rockets to launch their proposed crew and cargo modules on confidence-building test flights before shooting for the international space station.
Both SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler have a considerable amount of hardware already on hand — more, in fact, than any of the four other COTS finalists the pair beat out for the awards.
Both companies intend to combine the money they receive from NASA — SpaceX is getting $278 million and Rocketplane Kistler $207 million — with additional private investment. Both companies also plan to berth their cargo modules to the international space station with the aid of the outpost’s giant robot arm.
From Space.com here.
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