Los Angeles, Sept 21 (ANI): NASA, which recently retired its shuttle fleet, has unveiled it plans to hire private "space taxis" to help astronauts commute to the International Space Station (ISS) and low-earth orbit.
The program will fund several private companies that provide the space agency with a complete end-to-end design, including spacecraft, launch vehicles, launch services, ground and mission operations and recovery.
An "integrated design contract" as large as $1.61 billion, which will run from July 2012 to April 2014, has been offered in NASA's draft request for proposal (RFP).
"This is a significant step forward in America's amazing story of space exploration," LA times quoted NASA Administrator Charles Bolden as saying in a news release.
"It's further evidence that we are committed to implementing our plan ... to outsource our space transportation so NASA can focus its energy and resources on deep space exploration," he added. (ANI)
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