The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is on a high and on a low at the same time. The achievement is that there is a space taxi in the works. And the set back is that a recent report just slammed NASA's Near-Earth Object Program.

It was revealed last week that at least three major aerospace companies -- Boeing Co., SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corporation -- are vying for the contract to deliver a space taxi that could shuttle only astronauts. The audit report also came out last week that criticized NASA's Near-Earth Object (NEO) Program; this program's design is to stop large asteroids from falling to Earth.

The Boeing Co. is in the lead in securing the contract to deliver a space taxi. This is a multi-billion dollar contract for transporting astronauts to and from orbit. According to some government and aerospace industry officials, the Obama Administration, along with NASA, has indicated that Boeing's proposed capsule is the least riskiest option, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Boeing Co. appears to be ready to transport U.S. crews to the International Space Station (ISS) within three years. But they will have competition with newbies like SpaceX. SpaceX has been a NASA favorite for quite some time, especially for delivering at lower costs and effective methods, The Wall Street Journal reported.

To bring space taxis in general would be a milestone for any commercial space company. The person who could win the contract could have authority for contractors to develop, improve and operate vehicles, with limited federal oversight.

SpaceX and the Sierra Nevada Corporation are in the same spaceship. Either space exploration company could receive a smaller contract as a second source. Some experts believe that SpaceX is in a good position to get it, The Wall Street Journal reported. Those experts, as well as officials, stated that a last-minute decision by NASA chief Charles Bolden could change the results for all of the companies involved in the bid.

The competition could be dwindled down to just companies, Boeing Co. versus SpaceX. Boeing Co.'s future goals has been to ferry people into space aboard its CST-100 crew transportation vehicle as early as next year, CNET reported.

And SpaceX has become the leader in private space exploration. It has already delivered payloads and equipment for NASA, and to the ISS on its Falcon 9 spacecraft. SpaceX is arguably the first outer space cargo and shipping company.

Industry officials and experts have suggested that Boeing has a longer track record with NASA, over four decades. And Boeing has always delivered on time and on budget. While SpaceX is fairly new to the aerospace industry -- with a little over a decade in existence -- they have developed two rockets, three different engines and a capsule, The Wall Street Journal reported. The SpaceX co-founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk has stated that they will continue development on their Dragon capsule regardless of NASA's decision.

A space taxi is one advancement for NASA, but a grade D to one of their projects is not progress. NASA's office of the Inspector General audit stated that the U.S. space agency Near-Earth Object program was lacking in organization, the International Business Times reported. The audit also added that it failed to reach its goal of finding 90 percent of possible dangerous asteroids by 2020.

The report also goes on to read that "NASA has organized its NEO [Near-Earth Object] program under a single program executive who manages a loosely structured conglomerate of research activities that are not well integrated and lack overarching program oversight, objectives and established milestones to track progress."

NASA was tasked back in 1994, and even now, to identify dangerous asteroids greater than 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) in diameter, IBT reported. In 1998 the NEO program was born as an order by the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. By 2005, the NASA Authorization Act had required the detection of 90 percent of asteroids of 140 meters, approximately 459 feet, or larger by 2020.

Even smaller asteroids should be identified. The report cites the Chelyabinsk meteor that hit Russia in 2013. Even at 18 meters (59 feet) in diameter, the meteor exploded "with the force of 30 atomic bombs, blowing out windows, destroying buildings, injuring more than 1,000 people and raining down fragments along its trajectory," according to the report, the International Business Times reported.

The silver lining is that the audit notes that with the NEO program they have been able to detect and plot the orbits of 11,000 NEOs since 1998.

In order for NASA's NEO detection program to flourish, the report recommends three items: first, establish an effective and formal program that complies with NASA's. Second, improve staffing and management. And third, conduct formal partnerships with either Russia's "Roscosmos" or cosmonauts, or with the European Space Agency, to help improve detection, according to IBT.