SpaceX will get to transport astronauts to the space station

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launches successfully in 2012
(Image credit: BRUCE WEAVER/AFP/Getty Images)

Elon Musk's aerospace company, SpaceX, will be one of the first private companies able to fly American astronauts to the International Space Station, NASA announced Friday.

The firm will join Boeing and two yet-to-be-announced companies with orders to shuttle astronauts as soon as 2017.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.