$1.6 billion to be funded into ‘Space Taxis’ by NASA

NASA are going to pump around $1.6 billion into private companies, willing to develop space transportation services. The US space agency will be requiring complete systems to transport astronauts to the International Space Station by the middle of the decade.

US President Obama has filed for $850 million for the ‘Commercial Crew initiative' for the year, beginning 1st October. Last week, according to reports, the Appropriations Committee offered $500 million.

American have retied the Space Shuttles which mean they are dependent on Russia to fly astronauts to space station, a $100 billion project from 16 nations which resides around 225 miles above Earth. Russia charge around $50 million for each person, which factors in training and other services.

China has flown people into orbit, but they are not a member of the space station program.

Phil McAlister, Nasa's commerical spaceflight development director said “Right now, we have a single-string failure for a $100 billion national lab, Every year we do not have a commercial crew capability, the station is at risk.”

Kitguru says: Orbital travel may become more commonplace, but not in our lifetime.

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