Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) hopes to reach the International Space Station on a trial cargo run before the end of the year. Now its engineers and astronauts are working on concepts to convert the Dragon cargo capsule into a crew carrier. With at most two flights left for the space shuttle fleet, NASA is eager for the commercial-crew work to go forward, and the company is likely to be a winner in the second round of the commercial crew development (CCDev-2) competition that will be announced by the end of this month. NASA expects to have $250 million in CCDev-2 funds to help private companies defray the cost of building a commercial crew transport infrastructure.
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