Boeing
opens commercial spaceship plant in Florida
Send a link to a friend
[September 09, 2015]
By Irene Klotz
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Boeing Co
<BA.N> took the wraps off an assembly plant on Friday for its first line
of commercial spaceships, which NASA plans to use to fly crews to the
International Space Station, officials said.
|
"This is a point in history that reflects a new era in human
spaceflight," Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said at a
grand opening ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center.
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 <LMT.N> 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.
[to top of second column]
|
Boeing already has agreements to provide space transportation
services for privately owned Bigelow Aerospace, which plans to lease
out space aboard its planned orbiting outposts for scientific
research and commercial programs. A prototype Bigelow habitat is
scheduled to be launched and attached to the space station by early
2016 for a two-year test flight.
Boeing's refurbishment of the retired space shuttle hangar was
partly financed by Florida, which so far has invested about $2
billion to lure aerospace companies to the state.
On Sept. 15, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to be at Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station to unveil a new commercial space project, also
backed by state and local economic development agencies.
Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, is expected to announce plans for
a rocket manufacturing plant in an industrial park adjacent to
Kennedy Space Center. The company also plans to lease a mothballed
launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, state and local
officials familiar with the project said.
(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |