Since the retirement of the shuttle program, the restoration of launching American astronauts to the International Space Station from American soil by 2017 has been a goal of NASA. Now, that goal has taken a giant leap forward as NASA has ordered its first commercial spaceflight mission from Boeing.
NASA is increasing its reliance on the private sector for its space exploration endeavors and many companies are now capitalizing on the future of space travel thanks to an evolving partnership with U.S. space agency.
While SpaceX continues to try to land a rocket for reuse later, Boeing and Lockheed Martin have unveiled what they believe will be a better and cheaper booster recycling solution.