CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA expects to save millions of dollars sending astronauts to the International Space Station once its commercial crew program starts flying in a couple of years.
SpaceX and Boeing said Monday that they are on track to carry out their first manned test flights to the space station in 2017 since the space shuttles were retired in 2011. NASA chose the two private companies last September to transport American astronauts to and from the orbiting lab.
NASA’s commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders, said the average price for a seat aboard the SpaceX Dragon and Boeing CST-100 capsules will be $58 million. That compares with $71 million a seat charged by Russia.
“I don’t ever want to have to write another check” to the Russians’ Space Agency after 2017, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
