Taxi please!

19 April 2011 - Nasa has given an indication of the companies it thinks may be closest to offering commercial systems to carry American astronauts into space. With its shuttles about to retire, the agency has offered $270m (£166m) of funds to four firms to help them mature designs for new orbiting vehicles. Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp and SpaceX hope to sell astronaut "taxi" services to Nasa by mid-decade. Until then, US crews will have go to the space station on Russian rockets. "The next American-flagged vehicle to carry our astronauts into space is going to be a US commercial provider," said Ed Mango, Nasa's Commercial Crew Programme manager. "The partnerships Nasa is forming with industry will support the development of multiple American systems capable of providing future access to low-Earth orbit." The winning companies have a range of concepts under developments.