NASA Astronauts ISS: Elon Musk Space X Reusable Rockets Follow Jeff Bezos' 'New Shephard' Strategy

Elon Musk, CEO of Space X is about its first military deal to launch satellites into space and he may have to thank Russian president Vladimir Putin for it. So far, a Russian travel vehicle was used to take astronauts to the ISS. The deal comes six months on the heels of a unsuccessful attempt to send shipments to the International Space Station.

However, Space X was awarded a deal to ferry NASA's Space station astronauts to and fro from space, starting in 2017. The is comes after a lawsuit by Space X against the government to uphold a ensure the company's entry into in space transportation, the Motley Fool reported. 

A tweet by Elon Musk said that the Falcon 9 will take off form Cape Canaveral on December 9, accoreding to Yahoo News.

This is not the first time the Falcon 9 has landed on Earth . During the earlier attempt, the rocket exploded before landing in an ocean barge.

Space X is going to try a landing on land after news of Jeff Bezos rocket making a successful return to the ground rather than a barge. The Bezos company's rocket was named "New Shepherd." However, the Falcon 9 and the  New Sepherd are two diferent vehicles. The former takes NASA payload to lower orbit, while the latter takes astronauts to sub-orbital space.

Reusable rockets are crucial to making a viable space rocket program because of industry costs. 

Previously, Space X has been in stiff competition with United Launch Alliance, a collaboration betweeen Boing (BA) and Lockheed (LMT). The company has had a monopoly on military contracts, say experts.