NASA/Kennedy Space Center (via Flickr); Boeing; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider
An illustration of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon space capsules.
NASA is about to name the first eight astronauts ever to fly Boeing and SpaceX's brand-new spaceships.
The Commercial Crew Program, as it's called, is a spaceflight competition that NASA started about two years before retiring its space shuttles in July 2011. The goal: ensure NASA astronauts can access the International Space Station and end US reliance on Russia's increasingly expensive Soyuz spaceships to get there.
Boeing and SpaceX came out on top with their CST-100 Starliner and Crew Dragon space capsule designs, respectively. Together, the two companies earned about $8 billion in government contracts and awards. Their new ships could be test-launched (without any astronauts inside) by the end of the year.
If those uncrewed missions go well, Boeing and SpaceX will each follow with two flights in 2019. After that, the companies will become eligible for years' and billions of dollars' worth of future NASA missions.
Although NASA has not yet said which astronauts will be assigned to these historic first flights, four astronauts have already been working closely with Boeing and SpaceX in the testing and development of their capsules.
By the end of this week, however, all eight names will be revealed.
"NASA will announce on Friday, Aug. 3 the astronauts assigned to crew the first flight tests and missions of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon, and begin a new era in American spaceflight," the agency said.
Who might get to fly these historic private space missions?
More than 50 people are in NASA's astronaut corps, though 12 in the agency's 2017 astronaut class are still training. Anyone currently assigned to a space mission also won't be picked for the Boeing and SpaceX flights, NASA told Business Insider.
This leaves about 33 "active" and eligible astronauts. Here's what we know about the candidates and which ones are most likely to make history in the new space race.
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