NASA has said it gave Boeing an extra $287 million (£222 million) to work on their program designed to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. Up until now, the space agency has been paying Russia to fly American astronauts to the ISS with NASA already paying almost $4 billion (£3.1 billion) to fly 70 astronauts to the outpost. NASA has been pushing for alternatives however and is set to be pay Boeing $90 million (£69 million) for each astronaut it delivers.
SpaceX is also developing its Crew Dragon capsule for the journey but will only receive $55 million (£42.6 million) for the same trip, which works out as 39 percent less.
Mr Musk has hit out at the disparity and said publicly that Boeing shouldn’t be paid more forgoing the same thing.
“This doesn’t seem right,” Mr Musk tweeted in response to an Ars Technica report on the payment. “Meaning not fair that Boeing gets so much more for the same thing.”
However, the additional funds paid to Boeing were the result of “fair and open negotiations,” Boeing spokesman Joshua Barrett said.
Boeing has taken on “significantly more up-front financial risk” in the project, and the payments help ensure NASA has the flexibility it needs for adjusting launch dates, he said.
Boeing plans to launch its Starliner to the ISS next month.
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The CEO said on Twitter on Saturday: “146k Cybertruck orders so far, with 42 percent choosing dual, 41 percent tri & 17 percent single motor.”
Customers are expected to pay a £78 ($100) “preorder fee” he added.
But to actually purchase the Cybertruck, customers also have to take other steps, according to the website.
It reads: “After you submit your completed pre-order and the options you selected become available in production, we will invite you to complete the configuration of your Vehicle.
“We will then issue you the Vehicle Configuration and Final Price Sheet based on the base price of the model and any options included or that you select.”
The so-called preorder fee is less expensive than other Tesla vehicles.
The Model Y SUV requires a £1,937 ($2,500) deposit.
The Model 3 from 2016 asked for a £775 ($1,000) deposit.
Mr Musk said on Twitter the unveiling of the truck would be Tesla’s last “for a while”.