TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In the future, space travel for astronauts will become easier. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is currently working with Boeing and SpaceX to create a space taxi. The three companies have signed a contract worth US$6.8 billion and will start working on the project this year.

"We know going to space is hard. We are counting on them to deliver our most precious cargo," said NASA's Commercial Crew Program Manager Kathy Lueders as reported by CNET on Tuesday, September 16, 2014.

In order to build the space taxi, NASA will use Boeing's CST-100 and SpaceX's Dragon V2. These two spacecraft can carry at least a crew of seven astronauts utilizing a variety of rockets.

In the next few years, Boeing and SpaceX must create a design that will go through NASA's certification reviews and testing to ensure safety and durability of the spacecraft in space.

"The challenge of a CDR [Critical Design Review] is to ensure all the pieces and sub-systems are working together," Boeing Commercial Crew Program manager John Mulholland said.

According to NASA, the space taxi will ready for launch in 2017. If the program proven to be successful, the taxi will become the first commercial flight to space for astronauts and public.

RINDU P. HESTYA | CNET