Update: NASA awards contracts to get back into space

Yesterday, NASA awarded contracts to Boeing and Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring astronauts back into space. This signals the agency’s return to manned space flight after the end of the space shuttle program.

Lueders said that both companies will be paid by reaching milestones. Their most important one is to successfully make manned flights to the International Space Station, where they will have to demonstrate their ability to deliver cargo, dock and then return safely to Earth.