Right now the agency is reviewing the proposals and hopes to come to a decision before the end of the year. While they haven’t stated who these companies are, when they hosted an industry briefing in March, you saw recognisable names like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Airbus, and Boeing in the mix.
In addition, NASA “will not need anything near as big and as capable” as the ISS in the future. McAlister said that the private stations “could be very large, but NASA will only be paying for the part that we need.”
For further details, please read CNBC’s coverage as they discuss the public-private model NASA are implementing and its current endeavours with Axiom Space.
In other space age news, NASA have started testing their new air taxis.