America’s manned space program, in suspended animation for three years, was stirring last week. That’s promising for the program and the nation.

But Congress must make sure it doesn’t postpone the program’s reawakening — and America’s declaration of independence from Russia in space.

Last Tuesday, NASA awarded $6.8 billion in contracts to Boeing and SpaceX for the two companies to finish developing their own space vehicles to carry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station by 2017. Both companies plan to launch from Florida’s Space Coast.

SpaceX already has successfully delivered cargo to the station using its rockets. Boeing has decades of experience building vehicles for manned spaceflight.

Boeing will assemble its capsule at Kennedy Space Center, which will create up to 550 jobs there. The region badly needs them; it’s still recovering from the end of the shuttle program and the loss of some 10,000 jobs.

NASA’s decision to pick two contractors, instead of one, was opposed by some members of Congress, who contend it’s a more expensive approach. But having two contractors will maintain competition that should keep costs down over the longer term and drive innovation. It also should forestall the possibility that problems with one contractor’s operation will shut down the manned space program again.

U.S. astronauts have been grounded since July 2011, when the shuttle program flew its last mission. Since then, NASA has been depending on Russia to carry U.S. astronauts to the space station. Russia is now charging some $70 million for each round-trip ticket. Call it a space shakedown.

With relations between the U.S. and Russia at their worst since the Cold War, it’s more untenable than ever for U.S. astronauts to be held hostage to a taxi service controlled by Vladimir Putin.

A successful commercial program for trips to the station also will free NASA to concentrate on travel to more distant destinations in space, including asteroids and Mars. Those missions hold the greatest potential for the next generation of scientific and technological breakthroughs.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden called Tuesday’s contract awards “the fulfillment of the commitment President Obama made to return human spaceflight launches to U.S. soil and end our reliance on the Russians.” But Bolden is getting more than a little ahead of things.

NASA’s decision last week put the commercial space program on schedule to launch in three years. The program will need sustained support in the meantime to meet its target. The launch date could slip to 2018 or later if Congress maintains its maddening practice in recent years of starving the program’s budget.

Lawmakers must not let that happen again; there’s too much at stake.

— Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel