Posted on 09/04/2015 2:41:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Boeing's newly named CST-100 Starliner spaceships will be prepared for flight in a processing hangar once used by NASA's space shuttles. The capsule's debut test flight is targeted for 2017.
Starliners will fly from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard Atlas 5 rockets, which are built and flown by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
NASA is paying up to $4.2 billion for a Starliner test flight and up to six missions to the station. The U.S. space agency has a similar contract with privately owned SpaceX, which intends to accomplish the work for $2.6 billion.
NASA previously contributed $621 million to Boeing and $545 million for SpaceX for capsule design and development.
Both Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Dragon capsules can carry seven-member crews, or a mix of crew and cargo, to and from the station, a $100 billion laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.
Muilenburg declined to say how much of its own money Boeing is putting into the project, but said its ultimate success will depend on customers beyond NASA.
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
It would,but Pan Am ain’t no more. And given the state of things, the Am is hanging by a thread.
Unfortunately, reality interjects with something from the Apollo program. If you like seeing the ocean (or being a part of it), you’ll not be disappointed with this reversion.
At least with Shuttle-based designs, there’s some control in landing.
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