The aerospace giant Boeing announced a partnership Wednesday with a company called Space Adventures. Both companies will work together to launch wealthy space tourists and other non-NASA fliers aboard a 7-passenger capsule.
The Boeing CST-100 capsule will carry NASA and European Space Agency astronauts to and from the International Space Station under a NASA initiative to encourage development of private-sector spacecraft.
Seats not needed by NASA or its space station partners will be marketed to individuals, private companies, non-NASA federal agencies and other governments that might need access to space.
Boeing and Space Adventures are among several companies developing technology to help send astronauts, cargo and people into space in the coming years.
Space Adventures has already organized eight trips to the International Space Station aboard Russia's Soyuz space capsule. The company's most recent client, Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laiberte, paid $35 million for a ride in October 2009.
Boeing and Space Adventures did not say how much a trip will cost and added that the price will be competitive.
The CST-100 spacecraft will seat up to seven crew members and stay at the space station for up to six months before returning to parachute-and-airbag-cushioned landing in the western United States. The capsules will be able to fly up to 10 times each with new heat shields and service modules added between flights.
NASA astronauts will pilot agency missions to the space station.
Assuming steady funding and no major technical problems, Boeing will be ready for operational flights in 2015.
NASA will have to buy seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft until new U.S. rockets, either government or commercial, become available in the 2015 timeframe.
Former shuttle commander Brewster Shaw, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration said: "With the coming end of the space shuttle program, NASA has a significant and immediate need for transportation to the International Space Station of their crew. Additionally, very few people have made it to orbit, probably a little over 500 out of some 6 or 7 billion people. That's not enough. We want to see many more have that opportunity."
John Elbon, vice president and program manager of Boeing commercial crew transportation systems, said "This is an uncertain market. It's a new thing. But the fact that NASA will be an investor in this process, means that we have less cost to recover during operations. That reduces the dependence on the pure commercial part of this market".
source: CBS and VOAnews
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