Two companies, Rocketplane
Kistler (RpK) and SpaceX,
won contracts in 2006 with NASA to demonstrate
by 2010 vehicles capable of taking cargo to the
International Space Station. Both companies plan
eventually to carry crews as well. Unlike the
usual NASA approach, the agency will not dictate
the design of the vehicles used by the companies.
Instead the agency simply contracted for the ISS
resupply tasks and will let the companies decide
the best way to fulfill the contract. Each company
has its own vehicle in development.
Other companies are also looking at building
their own vehicles capable of delivering cargo
and crews to orbit on a commercial basis. Many
of these firms plan first to build suborbital
vehicles for space tourism operations before building
orbital systems.
Below we display a sample of companies developing
commercial orbital space transport. (In the October
Spotlight we displayed a list of suborbital
space tourism transport projects.)
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