History: NASA Archive Photography

On April 18, 2011, NASA awarded nearly $270 million to four companies to develop U.S. vehicles that could fly astronauts to the ISS as part of the CCDev 2 program.
In September 2011, NASA announced the start of the Space Launch System program to develop a human-rated heavy lift vehicle. The Space Launch System is intended to launch the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and other elements towards the Moon, near-Earth asteroids, and one day Mars. The Orion MPCV is planned for an unmanned test launch on a Delta IV Heavy rocket around late 2013.