The Obama administration effectively canceled the Constellation deep space exploration program in the 2011 federal budget. The administration’s plan, much criticized at the time, was released in 2010. It proposed that NASA pay private companies to develop commercial spacecraft to transport astronauts to and from the ISS.
The aim was to open up NASA once again to become “an engine for innovation, that will spur the development of commercial industry in low Earth orbit.”
In 2011, ending the shuttle program put a spotlight on NASA’s problems. Without an operational shuttle, the U.S. didn’t have a manned spacecraft program. Without shuttle service, U.S. astronauts were buying rides to the ISS, on Russia’s spacecraft which cost more than $80 million per seat.
The private industry, SpaceX in particular, was there to fill some of the gaps left by ending the shuttle program. Over two decades NASA has awarded SpaceX and other private partners several lucrative contracts, including developing new spacecrafts. SpaceX was also contracted to transport cargo and astronauts to the ISS.
