NASA Will Award $1.6 Billion to Speed the Development of Commercial Space Taxis

Likely prompted in no small part by last month’s Progress cargo ship crash in Russia, NASA has announced a $1.6 billion contract running through 2014 to develop complete end-to-end cargo and crew transportation between Earth and the International Space Station. In other words, NASA is getting really serious about developing commercial space taxis that can do what the shuttle no longer can: get people and supplies to and from the space station without relying solely on Russian technology.