SpaceX gets nod

SpaceX received orders Friday from NASA to send astronauts to the International Space Station in the coming years, helping restore U.S. access to space, NASA said. The announcement was a formal step in a process that began earlier this year when Boeing was given the nod by NASA to send crew to the orbiting outpost by late 2017. Both Boeing and SpaceX have received billions in seed money from NASA to restore American access to the ISS, after the U.S. space shuttle program was retired in 2011. The announcement of $4.2 billion for Boeing and $2.6 billion for SpaceX was made in September 2014. (Source: Space Daily, 11/20/15) Gulf Coast note: SpaceX is using Stennis Space Center, Miss., for research into its next generation of rocket engines.