Sierra Nevada Corporation Doesn't Like The NASA Deal With The Boeing Company, SpaceX

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Sierra Nevada Corporation filed a formal protest over a recently awarded NASA contract with The Boeing Company BA and Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), a company founded by Tesla Motors Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk. The two companies are locked in a battle for the right to supply the next manned U.S. space vehicle later this decade.

To The Moon And Beyond

Since the space shuttle was retired in 2011, the United States has had to rely on Russian launch and space vehicles to get astronauts to the International Space Station. The United States has to pay Russia $70 million per seat. That could go a long way in addressing the action by Sierra Nevada. Any delay in returning to manned space travel by the United States is not a welcomed outcome.

Related Story: The Boeing Company, SpaceX In NASA Pact To Transport US Astronauts

Sierra Nevada claims that it should have been awarded the contract based upon its own proposal and warned that, in the end, taxpayers are likely to be adversely affected. The company was awarded the lions share of the original manned orbiter contract based upon its DreamChaser vehicle in 2008. However, NASA decided to proceed with Boeing's CST-100 and SpaceX's Falcon V2 instead for the next phase of the program, which has a goal of a first launch in two years.

Super Tucano

Sierra is no stranger in dealing with the U.S. government. With its partner, Embraer Defense & Security, the company supplies the A-29 Super Tucano propeller-driven aircraft, which is intended for use by the Afgan military under a U.S. Air Force program. The first of 20 A-29's was recently delivered to the air force.

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Posted In: Wall Street JournalContractsTopicsGlobalMediaGeneralBoeingSierra NevadaSpaceX
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