NASA selects Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman to build private space stations
Three companies will now be in the business of building space stations.
Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and Nanoracks were each awarded NASA contracts ranging from $125 million to $160 million.
Like other aspects of space travel and exploration, NASA is looking to private companies to help reduce costs. The station contracts are expected to save the agency about $1 billion. The orbiting stations will be used for both private and government use.
The International Space Station’s shelf life is due to expire in about 2030. It served very well as an orbiting lab. The next generation space stations will still act as labs but some feel they’ll also ultimately be platforms to go deeper into space.
Travis Thompson worked in the "white room" for the majority of the shuttle program launches. He's part of the team that closes the hatch before launch.
“We need another (space station). I believe it would be called a stepping stone to get to Mars. I believe it would be better to have a station in orbit that we could leave from to either go to the moon and launch from the moon to Mars or the station to Mars.”
There’s no talk that the first round of new stations over the next six years will serve as connections beyond Earth’s orbit. But they will put more people in orbit to study how to go farther.
And more good news for the Space Coast: Elon Musk announced today that SpaceX has restarted building a launchpad specifically for the Starship at the Kennedy Space Center.
Pad construction started in 2019 but SpaceX then shifted focus to Texas where Starship test launches were conducted.