NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz from left listens as Charles Bolden NASA administrator speaks with former astronaut Bob Cabana.

NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz, from left, listens as Charles Bolden, NASA administrator, speaks with former astronaut Bob Cabana, director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Kathy Lueders, manager of the agency's Commercial Crew Program, before the announcement of the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability CCtCap contract awards designed to complete the NASA certification for human space transportation systems capable of carrying people into orbit. Astronaut and former International Space Station Commander Mike Fincke also took part in the announcement. Once certification is complete, NASA plans to use these systems to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and return them safely to Earth.
Speaking from Kennedy Space Center’s Press Site, Bolden detailed the importance of the effort by the agency's Commercial Crew Program for United States space exploration ambitions and the economic potential of creating new markets in space transportation for people. Boeing and SpaceX were awarded contracts to complete the design of the CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively, and begin manufacturing for flight tests with a goal of achieving certification to take astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017. CCtCap also covers the beginning of operational missions for these new spacecraft and their systems. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann