Boeing, SpaceX share $6.8B in NASA space taxi contracts

NASA has awarded Boeing Co. a contract worth as much as $4.2 billion and rival Space Exploration Technologies Corp. a separate pact valued at up to $2.6 billion to develop, test and fly space taxis to carry U.S. astronauts into orbit.

The American-built rockets and spacecraft would replace the Russian systems currently providing the only access to the international space station, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Tuesday's long-awaited announcement by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration marks a milestone for commercial space ventures, partly because both companies will own and operate the equipment while experiencing significantly less day-to-day federal oversight than previous manned space programs, according to the journal.

The first astronaut traveling by space taxi is expected by 2017.

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