WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected Orbital ATK, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems and SpaceX to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2019-2024.
"Each contract guarantees a minimum of six missions, however, as of today, we have not yet ordered any of those missions," Sam Scimemi, director of the ISS division of NASA said on Thursday.
NASA’s competition for commercial resupply mission (CRS) contracts ended on Thursday.
SpaceX, Boeing, Orbital ATK, Lockheed Martin and SNC Space Systems had submitted bids for the CRS contracts.
Two of the winners – California-based SpaceX and Virginia-based Orbital ATK — currently fly cargo to the ISS. Their contracts expire in 2017.
The third winner, SNC Space Systems, has developed the Dream Chaser Cargo System, a robotic cargo variant of its Dream Chaser spaceplane, in a bid to win a NASA CRS contract.
