Boeing Test Pilots First to Fly on CST-100

August 9, 2011 —If you want to fly to the International Space Station, you might want to get your job application in to Boeing pretty fast. With the last space shuttle flight completed, Boeing is stepping up plans to provide a manned space mission alternative. And the first passengers on that mission will be Boeing test pilots. If NASA selects Boeing for a development contract with sufficient funding, Boeing will use the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rockets to test its CST-100 "space taxi" on three flights in 2015. Boeing's first test will attempt to deliver the CST-100 to orbit. The next will be intentionally aborted after launch and before the vehicle has reached space. The third plans to deliver Boeing test pilots to the International Space Station, setting the stage for more regular service in 2016. The CST-100 is a reusable, capsule-shaped spacecraft that includes a crew module and a service module. According to a Boeing press release, it relies on proven, affordable materials and subsystem technologies that can transport up to seven people, or a combination of people and cargo. Boeing plans to begin wind tunnel testing of the Atlas V and the CST-100 this year and will use the results to complete a preliminary design review of the integrated system in 2012 under the second round of its Commercial Crew Development Space Act Agreement with NASA. The Atlas V has recorded 26 successful flights without one failure over five years. Meanwhile, multiple companies have been working for years on products and propulsion systems that would deliver cargo or passengers into space. However, Boeing may have at least one advantage over its competitors since it is partly funded by NASA. Other companies in the race to create space vehicles include SpaceX, which has already completed a series of test launches. XCOR, Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, and lastly, Orbital Sciences Corp. – which plans to launch a resupply vessel into space early in 2012.

Boeing is maturing the design of its CST-100 spacecraft under an $18 million Commercial Crew Development Space Act Agreement with NASA. The CST-100 can carry a crew of seven and is designed to support the International Space Station and the Bigelow Aerospace Orbital Space Complex. Photo illustration: Boeing An artist rendition of the CST-100 approaching the International Space Station. The CST-100 will be bigger than Apollo but smaller than Orion, and be able to launch on a variety of different rockets. Photo illustration: Boeing

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