Boeing is building a capsule to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and to future private space stations. Yesterday, at a media briefing, the company presented designs of its cone-shaped spacecraft, which is bigger than the Apollo capsule of the 60s and 70s, but smaller than NASA’s possible future crew capsule, Orion. Boeing also announced a partnership with Bigelow Aerospace, a private company that is building inflatable space habitats with plans to launch the first private space station by 2014.
Boeing’s new spacecraft, called CST-100, is being built through an $18 million award from NASA under the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Space Act Agreement, which is intended to stimulate the private sector to develop human spaceflight capabilities. The company has a long history with NASA, and hopes to be the first private company to build a capsule that could take cargo and astronauts to the space station, helping fill the gap when the shuttles retire. But Boeing is not the only company with such ambitious plans. Orbital Sciences Corporation and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) are also in the midst of developing similar designs with funding from NASA.
While NASA could be a good customer for Boeing, servicing the government agency alone would probably not support the business case for the vehicle. So the company’s partnership with Bigelow, which is in need of a transportation system to its space-based habitats and future space station, is essential.
Don’t settle for half the story.
Get paywall-free access to technology news for the here and now.
