Boeing To Offer Space Taxi Service In 2015
The Boeing Company has announced plans to team with Space Adventures of Vienna, Virginia to offer a space-taxi service that will allow tourists to visit low Earth orbit on board Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation-100 (CST-100) spacecraft.
The Chicago-based aerospace manufacturer officially announced the partnership on Wednesday, and in a press release, noted that the CST-100 vehicles could carry seven passengers and could be operational by 2015. No price for the service has yet been announced.
"By combining our talents, we can better offer safe, affordable transportation to commercial spaceflight customers," Brewster Shaw, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s Space Exploration division, said in a statement. "To date, all commercial flights for private spaceflight participants to the ISS have been contracted by Space Adventures. If NASA and the international partners continue to accommodate commercial spaceflight participants on ISS, this agreement will be in concert with the NASA administrator’s stated intent to promote space commerce in low Earth orbit."
"We are excited about the potential to offer flights on Boeing’s spacecraft," added Space Adventures co-founder and chairman Eric Anderson. "With our customer experience and Boeing’s heritage in human spaceflight, our goal is not only to benefit the individuals who fly to space, but also to help make the resources of space available to the commercial sector by bringing the value from space back to Earth."
The CST-100, which was unveiled by Boeing in July, is currently scheduled to take its first test flight sometime in 2014. Space Adventures, on the other hand, already has real-work experience, having successfully completed eight spaceflight missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
The company charged $40 million per seat for their most recent voyage, according to Washington Post Staff Writer Marc Kaufman. Kaufman also notes that Boeing is one of seven firms hand-picked by NASA in order to research private-sector rocket service to transport U.S. astronauts to the ISS back in February. The company reports that their work under the $18 million Space Act agreement is roughly two-thirds complete, according to Thursday article in the Post.
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