The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced Monday the names of the second batch of companies that will split the $269.3 million funding of the agency for the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Program aimed towards developing new commercial spaceships and capsules that would launch missions to the International Space Station. The Space Act Agreement between NASA and the four companies commences this month until May of next year.

Receiving the largest amount of $92.3 million would be Houston’s Boeing Company which has been a principal contractor for the agency as well as the International Space Station. It will use the money to develop its Crew Space Transportation-100 to its preliminary design review stage.

California-based Space Exploration Technologies will receive $75 million for implementing further developments to its side-mounted launch abort system and crew transportation capsule. Founded by PayPal co-founder and Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, the company has successfully launched a couple of its Falcon 9 rockets.

Taking $80 for its Dream Chaser vehicle is the Sierra Nevada Corporation of Louisville, Colorado. The seven-person Dream Chaser is a winged spacecraft capable of launching on top of an expendable rocket.

Washington company Blue Origin will take $22 million for the further development of its space vehicle design and pusher escape system. Established by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, it is developing the cone-shaped launch vehicle New Shepard.

The CCDev program serves as NASA’s transition efforts as it shifts to commercial services once the shuttle program is terminated by June this year. NASA will tap the services of the Russian government to transport humans to the International Space Station. According to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, the program aims to put an end to its reliance on foreign governments for their space work.

NASA is aiming to launch the commercial vehicles sometime in the middle of the decade but it will all depend on the maturity of the systems as well as the safety of the spacecraft, which is the agency’s highest priority according to Ed Mango, Program Manager of the CCDev based at the Kennedy Space Center.

CCDev began in 2009 and $50 million had already been awarded to five companies namely Boeing, Sierra Nevada, Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance and Sierra Nevada. Space X and Orbital Sciences Corp. have separate agreements with NASA worth $1.6 billion an $1.9 billion, respectively. Space X was contracted by NASA for 12 cargo flights of the Dragon capsule to the International Space Station until 2016. Orbital Science will fly eight supply missions using the Cygnus capsule and Taurus 2 rocket.

Want to earn some spare money as a writer for us? Send us an email!