CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Some $20 million in stimulus funds from NASA could put a northern Nevada at the forefront of the United States' commercial spacecraft industry.

Sparks-based Sierra Nevada Corporation was one of five companies awarded funds. The company is developing the Dream Chaser, a seven passenger craft designed to shuttle astronauts to and from the International Space Station as it orbits the earth.

Mark Sirangelo, vice president of the company's Sierra Nevada Space Systems, says the craft is expected to be operational by 2014.

NASA's space shuttle will fly is last mission this year. U.S. astronauts will then use Russian space craft for missions. That will cost about 15 million per flight, per astronaut.

Sirangelo says a U.S. commercial spacecraft industry would reduce costs for NASA.