HOUSTON – NASA, SpaceX and Boeing are tirelessly working on their efforts to launch Americans to the lower Earth’s orbit from American soil. It is a feat that has not been accomplished since the last Shuttle launch in 2011.

KPRC2′s Rose-Ann Aragon takes us into the Commercial Crew Program in a two-part mini-series on KPRC 2.

“We are all making history. We’re all trying to do this for our country,” said Steve Stich, NASA Deputy Program Manager for the Commercial Crew Program.

“We’re doing it differently then we’ve done previously,” said Kirk Shireman, NASA International Space Station Program Manager.

It is a feat, that at this point, one can only imagine.

"Can you go out to industry and then buy a component from them under this fixed price model?" Stich said, posing the question.

The goal is to have commercial companies build what NASA and America needs to launch humans into space from American soil for the first time since 2011.

“Since 2011 when the Shuttle retired. The only way people got to the ISS was going to Kazakhstan,” Shireman said.

The vehicles and mechanisms would be owned and built by private companies, with certain NASA safety guidelines.

"They could use legacy designs," Stich said.

NASA would buy the service to launch astronauts to the ISS. The companies could also use their vehicles for private missions of their own.

NASA has tasked two companies to make it happen: Boeing, a long-time, traditional partner of NASA, and SpaceX, which Stich described as a rapidly moving company that is newer to the partnership.

"They were chosen because they meet our mission. They had the best technical solutions. They had the best safety net," Stich said.

"They both have a little different culture. Boeing tends to be a little more traditional in the way that they design, develop and test spacecraft. SpaceX likes to rapidly fill the design and then test it in a flight test and then iterate it and then make it better. "

So far, there are nine Commercial Crew astronauts which are among a team of around 550 people overlooking two launch vehicles, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, as well as two spacecrafts, including SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and Boeing’s Starliner capsule. They will also be looking at several mission controls.

If all goes well, SpaceX will launch its capsule, the Crew Dragon atop a Falcon 9 rocket with two astronauts inside, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. The SpaceX mission control is in Hawthorne, California (MCC-X).

Boeing has its Starliner capsule, which will launch atop a ULA Atlas V with astronauts Chris Ferguson, Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann inside for the first crewed test at a date TBA. Boeing will have its Starliner (CST-100) led at NASA's historic mission control.

In fact, is that the Johnson Space Center, the home of human spaceflight, where a lot of the work for this first-ever program is happening.

"This is where astronauts train with the same systems here on Earth that they're going to use up in space," Steven Siceloff, Boeing Spokesperson, said.

Siceloff said the astronaut training done here is true to size. He shows KPRC2's Rose-Ann Aragon the Russian's Soyuz

"This little area (you can fit) three people- you're put in there pretty tight," Siceloff said.

The Starliner is expected to be bigger.

"It's about the size of a standard SUV, but honestly it feels a lot bigger than that," Celena Dopart, Boeing's Human Factor Systems Engineer, said.

As an engineers it's Dopart's job to make sure the spacecraft functions and feels right to astronauts. Dopart said the Starliner is a much more streamlined vehicle and at JSC's Vehicle Mock Up Facility, astronauts get comfortable with it.

"Form, fit, and function--about as close to the actual spacecraft that flew," Dopart said.

The Starliner can carry a lot of cargo.

"We've got three seats here and then everything else is meant for cargo," Dopart said.

Sunita Williams knows this spacecraft like the back of their hands.

"I'm a test pilot. I was a helicopter pilot in the Navy," Williams told KPRC2's Rose-Ann Aragon.

The reitred Navy Caption was also the first person to run a marathon in space. Williams, though, was chosen to command the first post-certification Starliner mission. She has helped with the capsule's design and was even give the honor of naming the first Starliner capsule "Calypso."

"You plan out everything, but you're prepared for the unexpected and you have the preparation in the back of your mind," Williams said.

Williams will also take international partners to the ISS.

"Leaving from Florida is going to be outstanding. I can't wait!" Williams said.

These commercial vehicles' payloads will also take science up to the ISS as well as other people.

"There are all kinds of people who want to go into space for all kinds of reason for research, for tourism, " Stich said.

"There's lots of business opportunity in space. Things we haven't even dreamed of," Shireman said.

While NASA prepares to build a commercial economy in space, these companies and their teams are testing to get one step closer to proving their spacecrafts are ready.

SpaceX recently announced that it's manned Demo-2 launch with Dragon will take place in May. Just this week, SpaceX also announced that it will be flying 4 tourists into space within the next two years.

As for Boeing, it is working with NASA on its next steps towards its manned Starliner flight.

"Workers across this country that did it. It's certainly a point of pride," Shireman said.

“It’s going to be amazing to come back home,” Williams said.