NASA announced the winners of its hotly-contested contract to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station.
Boeing was the big winner.
The company's space unit will be paid more than four billion dollars to deliver and certify its Crew Space Transportation Capsule.
A little over half that will be paid to Boeing's competitor Space X for its own version, called the Dragon.
Mike Fincke is a former International Space Station crew member.
At a news conference Tuesday, Fincke said having two competing capsules will be good for crew safety.
Fincke: “The CST-100 and Crew Dragon are going to be terrific machines – outstanding – to get into orbit. When you think about all the things that go into a successful mission aboard our beautiful international space station, it’s always the first 250 miles getting into orbit that can be the most stressful.”
Boeing Defense, Space and Security of St. Louis will build its version of the space taxis in Florida.
The company spokesman said Boeing had an informal agreement to work together with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, based in Kent.
That company is focused on reducing the cost of space travel and has not released further details.
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