SpaceX and Boeing have each landed NASA contracts worth $6.8 billion total to carry American astronauts to the International Space Station, reports The Los Angeles Times.

SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) won a $2.6 billion contract, and will be using the Dragon V2 capsule for the flight. Boeing, which is currently developing the CST-100 capsule it will be using for the flight, landed a contract worth $4.2 billion.

NASA representatives said the contracts were awarded based on the proposals submitted by both companies, but each carry similar requirements, which include development, certification, and a demo flight with a full crew.

If successfully implemented, both companies will launch their individual space vehicles from Cape Canaveral in Florida to ferry U.S. astronauts into low orbit and then dock with the ISS, according to Newsweek. Both companies will be doing around two to six space missions each, with a crew of four astronauts per mission.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said the decision to turn over American space flight to private industry "wasn't an easy choice, but it's the best choice for NASA and the nation."

Bolden emphasized how this could allow Americans to resume space flight, but this time, using American technology. At the moment, NASA is using Russian-made Soyuz capsules to carry their astronauts to ISS.

Kenneth Chang of the New York Times writes, "The awards reflect a fundamental shift in NASA's human spaceflight program, relying on private companies rather than the traditional hands-on approach in which the space agency designed and operated the spacecraft."

NASA had retired its space shuttles in 2011, and had to rely on Russian Soyuz capsules to transport astronauts at the cost of $70 million per seat..

However, Chang says this arrangement has become "a somewhat politically uneasy arrangement after Russia's annexation of Crimea and support of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine."