SpaceX Beat Boeing

SpaceX won the race against Boeing.

When NASA started the Commercial Crew Program in 2010, the goal was to get private-sector companies to produce the most cost-effective, innovative and safe way to get astronauts to the International Space Station.

The program was structured as a multi-tiered competition, with companies bidding for NASA contracts to build the space transportation systems under specific parameters set forth by the agency. NASA eventually awarded the contracts to SpaceX and Boeing.

For nearly a decade, SpaceX and Boeing have been neck and neck, building and testing their crew transportation systems. But SpaceX’s successful launch in May marked a major milestone for the company, leaving Boeing to play catch up. It was the first time that NASA astronauts took off from U.S. soil since 2011 and the first time a commercially built spacecraft carried NASA astronauts.