NASA Will Partner With Four Private Companies For Space Exploration Programs

NASA will partner with four private firms in U.S. for new space exploration program which would eventually see American astronauts return to Moon and land on Mars.

The four companies selected were ATK Space Systems (Beltsville, Maryland), Final Frontier Design (Brooklyn, New York), SpaceX (Hawthorne, California) and United Launch Alliance (Centennial, Colorado).

ATK Space Systems will develop space logistics, hosted payload and other space transportation capabilities required. Frontier Design will be responsible for developing intra-vehicular activity space suits. SpaceX will develop space transportation capabilities that eventually would support mission to Mars and into deep space. Finally United Launch Alliance will develop new launch vehicle capabilities that would reduce cost and enhance performance.

These US firms were selected under NASA's Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities (CCSC ) initiative, aimed at bringing advancement of agency's commercial efforts. The initiative will use the experience and the private sector's infrastructure to attempt to develop new technologies.

"Companies in all shapes and sizes are investing their own capital toward innovative commercial space capabilities," added Phil McAlister, head of commercial spaceflight development at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "These awards demonstrate the diversity and maturity of the commercial space industry. We look forward to working with these partners to advance space capabilities and make them available to NASA and other customers in the coming years."