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Austin American-Statesman Dale Roe column [Austin American-Statesman](Austin American-Statesman (TX) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 17-- Ever since the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's shuttle program ended, United States astronauts have been thumbing rides to, and returning from, the International Space Station with the Russians. Under an initiative NASA announced on Tuesday, that's going to change. "U.S. astronauts once again will travel to and from the International Space Station from the United States on American spacecraft," a NASA press release reads. The organization says that it has selected the Boeing Company along with inventor and investor Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) "to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station using their CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively, with a goal of ending the nation's sole reliance on Russia in 2017." Prior to Tuesday's announcement, Blue Origin, a private aerospace company founded by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, had been widely reported to be working with Boeing to develop a new rocket engine. The engines that power the Boeing-Lockheed Atlas 5 rockets currently used to launch U.S. military and spy satellites come from Russia, and tensions between the two countries over military action in Ukraine have led to worries that Russia might cut off the supply of those engines. Blue Origin's rocket technology could conceivably end up in a new spacecraft used for future U.S. manned space flight. So we'll know when and if that happens, here are seven signs that Amazon founder Bezos' space company is helping to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station: 7. Amazon Prime members get free, next-day transport. 6. Space craft takeoffs are activated with One-Click technology. 5. When astronauts step into the spacecraft, they find a personalized list of recommended books to read during the flight. 4. When mission control enters the coordinates for a mission, a screen pops up that reads "astronauts who viewed this destination also viewed the moon and low-earth orbit." 3. All communications systems on the International Space Station have been replaced with Kindles and Fire phones. 2. Your Amazon Cloud Drive files are now actually in a cloud. And the No. 1 sign that Bezos' space company Blue Origin is helping to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station: 1. NASA gets 30 percent off their first flight if they sign up for -- and charge the expense to -- an Amazon VISA card. ___ (c)2014 Austin American-Statesman, Texas Visit Austin American-Statesman, Texas at www.statesman.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |