Rusted Sky

NASA seeks help from private rocketeers - The New Space Race - MSNBC.com

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - With the space shuttles due to retire, NASA is looking for private companies interested in taking over the potentially lucrative business of flying cargo and crew to the international space station.

The U.S. space agency issued a long-awaited announcement Tuesday for firms interested in handling delivery services now provided by the three shuttles, which are due to stop flying by 2010.

“Certainly this is an opportunity for the new space companies,” said Jim Banke, head of Florida operations for The Space Foundation, an industry trade association. “They’ve been lobbying NASA hard for something like this for years.”

And now there's a 4-year lead time for companies to ramp up, submit proposals, get funding, bend the tin and do test flights.

And get into production.

Well, it should be interesting. NASA sure waited until late in the game to ask for help from the private sector, though...

J.