2 hours ago by By Marcia Dunn In a Thursday, May 29, 2014 file photo, the SpaceX Dragon V2 spaceship is unveiled at its headquarters, in Hawthorne, Calif. SpaceX and Boeing said Monday, Jan. 26, 2015, that they are on track to carry out their first manned test flights to the International Space Station in 2017. NASA expects to save millions of dollars in launch costs, once its commercial crew program starts flying. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

NASA expects to save millions of dollars sending astronauts to the International Space Station, once its commercial crew program starts flying in a couple of years.

SpaceX and Boeing said Monday that they are on track to carry out their first manned test flights to the space station in 2017. NASA chose the two private companies last September to transport American astronauts to and from the orbiting lab.

U.S. manned launches ended with the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011. Until SpaceX and Boeing begin flying crews from Cape Canaveral, NASA astronauts must continue to hitch rocket rides with Russia.

NASA's commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders, said the average price for a seat aboard the SpaceX Dragon and Boeing CST-100 capsules will be $58 million. That compares with $71 million a seat charged by Russia under its latest NASA contract.

"I don't ever want to have to write another check" to the Russian Space Agency after 2017, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former shuttle commander.

"If we can make that date," he said, referring to 2017, "I'm a happy camper."

Unlike the Russian charge, the $58 million per-person cost estimate includes a fair amount of cargo to be flown aboard the SpaceX and Boeing spacecraft, along with four crew members. That price tag is based on a five-year period, Lueders said.

The Russian Soyuz holds a maximum of three people, with at least one a Russian to pilot the craft.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the future enhanced Dragon capsule could carry five astronautsone more than NASA's stipulated fourand still meet all the cargo requirements.

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Boeing, SpaceX will beat Russia on price for astronaut rides (Update 2)