Thanks to a new contract from NASA, Boeing is keeping the “space” in its status as an aerospace giant.
Last week, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration awarded contracts to Boeing Space Exploration, a Houston-based arm of the corporation, and California-based SpaceX to develop and produce vehicles that can ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The Boeing portion of the deal will pay the company $4.2 billion, while SpaceX, which is headed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, won a contract worth $2.6 billion.
While the rewards are obvious for the corporations, the impact goes well beyond money. Since the space shuttle program was scuttled in 2011, NASA has depended upon Russia’s Soyuz program for transportation between Earth and the space station. Given the icy relationship these days between the United States and Russia, this has created a tenuous situation, and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin suggested in May that the U.S. should consider sending crews into space “with a trampoline.”
Once the Boeing and SpaceX programs are up and running, the trampolines won’t be necessary, and that is important in a symbolic sense. As NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “The greatest nation on Earth should not be dependent on any other nation to get to space.” Well said, particularly when one considers the role the space program long has played in boosting this nation’s morale.
On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy told a joint session of Congress that the United States should set a goal of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth,” and the fact that Americans accomplished just that in July 1969 remains one of the great achievements of humankind. The pursuit and the attainment of that goal buoyed the national psyche for years, establishing space travel as an example of our loftiest aspirations and abilities.
Many might question the cost effectiveness in pursuing space travel, and many in Congress likely will question the development of this project. But it should be noted that the space program of the 1960s not only sent Americans to the moon but also led to copious technological advances that impact and enhance our daily lives decades later. The benefits extended well beyond national pride and into tangible payoffs.
It also should be noted that the United States remains the only nation to land a human on the moon, and that Boeing has played a role in that adventure from the start. As Boeing Vice President John Elbon said last week, “Boeing has been part of every American human space flight program, and we’re honored that NASA has chosen us to continue that legacy.”
Boeing and SpaceX will fund development of commercially owned and operated “space taxis” to ferry astronauts and payloads to and from the space station, beginning as soon as 2017. The craft will launch aboard Atlas 5 rockets built by United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Both the Boeing and SpaceX capsules will be capable of carrying seven astronauts or paying customers, and the nature of the public-private partnership could eventually bring public space travel that much closer to reality. In the process, NASA has enlisted an old, established aerospace company and another from a roster of ambitious new companies.
NASA has taken steps to revive a program that represents the finest hopes and dreams of the United States. Reviving our ability to carry astronauts into space and return them safely to Earth will fill a void in our national spirit.
