S-P-A-C-E-X, that's how. Holy crap, Spacex just got awarded a monster contract from NASA.
$1.6 Billion to for cargo resupply services to the International Space Station. That's right, that's 'illion' with a B at the beginning.
And if things go well, NASA has the right to order another $1.5 Billion worth of services afterwards. Damn, that is serious sweetness.
For those that haven't been keeping up, SpaceX was previously awarded a smaller contract of about $300 million in 2006. Back then it was huge (actually it's still huge), but now it looks like small potatoes. The launch vehicle is Falcon 9 and the spacecraft that will dock with the ISS is called Dragon. The first Falcon 9 has already arrived in Cape Canaveral in preparation for its launch in 2009.
A 3D rendering of the Dragon Spacecraft that will dock with the ISS.
Here's the link to the official SpaceX announcement on the NASA Award.
Go SpaceX!!
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