Since President Obama shut down NASA’s, aka his Muslim outreach space program back in 2011, American astronauts have been hitching rides on Russians Soyuz spacecraft for a mere $70 million per person, or seat.

Both companies’ crafts must undergo safety testing before manned flights take place. Once certified for flight, each company will launch between two and six missions, NASA said.

Boeing (BA) said the contract means it will build three of its CST-100 crafts at its Kennedy Space Center facility in Florida. Each craft can carry up to seven passengers.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a statement he is “deeply honored” his company was chosen. Musk also runs electric car company Tesla (TSLA).

NASA’s partnership with the companies is part of the Commercial Crew Program. The program is intended to help private companies develop spacecraft to carry astronauts into low Earth orbit by 2017. The agency has invested more than $1.4 billion in contracts and special agreements with private companies for the two phase program.

The goal, according to NASA’s website, is “to establish safe, reliable and cost-effective access to space.” Once the new transportation system is up and running, NASA says it will use private spacecraft to “meet its space station crew rotation and emergency return obligations.”-CNN

Most politicians, including Florida’s two Senators, Marco Rubio (R) and Bill “Tangy” Nelson (D). are happy to see that jobs will return to Florida.

“Today’s announcement from NASA marks an important milestone for our nation’s space program and is an exciting development for Florida and the commercial space industry. These partnerships will ensure that American astronauts are once again launched into space from American soil. As the nation’s spaceport, Florida’s Space Coast will play a crucial role in advancing this initiative and exploring low earth orbit. I, along with all Floridians, look forward to seeing our astronauts launch from Kennedy Space Center once again.”-Senator Marco Rubio (R)

While this public-private partnership is a step in the right direction, the fact that the U.S. space program-the first to put a man on the moon- has suffered from the actions of the current ‘lead-from-behind’ President, and was relegated to relying on the Russians for assistance, is just embarrassing.