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Boeing Shows Off First Commercial Spacecraft

Posted by samzenpus on from the lost-luggage-in-space dept.

coondoggie writes "Boeing today released the first public glimpse of the commercial spacecraft it is working on under an $18 million contract with NASA. Boeing's Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 can hold seven crew and will be bigger than Apollo but smaller than NASA's Orion, and be able to launch on a variety of different rockets, including Atlas, Delta and Falcon.The company envisions the spacecraft supporting the International Space Station and future Bigelow Aerospace Orbital Space Complex systems. Bigelow is building what it calls 'expandable habitats,' that which are inflatable spacecraft would act as large, less costly space stations."

16 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. The Big B finally weighs in. by UncleBex · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Interesting that Boeing has finally weighed in with something new for human space transport and that their offering looks very much like a commodity product. Somewhat surprising for such a larger organization that is used to fat government contracts with no competition past the initial bidding. That the capsule will be able to launch on a variety of rockets will hopefully be a boon to the budding commercial space industry. My only fear is that this is a Microsoft-type extend and embrace move to smother the pesky upstarts in the field (e.g. SpaceX, Armadillo, etc.).

    Regardless, it is nice to see that the government and private sectors will soon have an ability to choose, it sure beats the old system.

    --
    "If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." - Carl Sagan
    1. Re:The Big B finally weighs in. by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Regardless, it is nice to see that the government and private sectors will soon have an ability to choose, it sure beats the old system.

      Well, it's not like they've actually done more than draw a couple of not-terribly-pretty pictures of their hypothetical spacecraft.

      All we're really seeing here is what Boeing promises to build if the Feds will give them a buttload of money to do the real engineering required.

      Note one key difference between the "previous system" and this announcement - Shuttle actually exists as something more than an advertising brochure....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    2. Re:The Big B finally weighs in. by sznupi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Shuttle actually exists as something more than an advertising brochure....

      Does it? The existing vehicle is quite a bit off from what was advertised.

      --
      One that hath name thou can not otter
    3. Re:The Big B finally weighs in. by sohp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If I were SpaceX founder Elon Musk, I'd be hopping mad right now. After developing Falcon9 and Dragon on the basis of a truly competitive commercial space program, the porkbarrel senators for aerospace/defense contractor states wrote a new NASA budget to basically hand money over to Boeing and the rest of the usual cast of trough-feeders to continue but with changes and more delays the Ares/Orion program. This craft will see about as much reality as the Orion did before Boeing is behind schedule and over budget and requests yet more money.

      The whole goal is to crowd out the smaller guys while maintaining the jobs programs in states like Washington, Utah, and Florida.

      Did anyone notice that they don't say where they are going in this capsule? Where are the senators who called Obama's proposed budget a mission to nowhere? This new NASA program doesn't have a destination, either, but at least the dollars keep flowing to the same interests.

    4. Re:The Big B finally weighs in. by sznupi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Relax a bit. Bigelow is involved with thise Boeing capsule; seems they want a competition in servicing their stations.

      --
      One that hath name thou can not otter
    5. Re:The Big B finally weighs in. by camperdave · · Score: 4, Informative

      SpaceX is months away from test flights of the Dragon capsule. It'll be years before Boeing is anywhere near ready to launch. Besides, SpaceX already has a contract to run crew and cargo up to the ISS.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    6. Re:The Big B finally weighs in. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is just moderator abuse. He's not trolling, he's absolutely right. Shuttle is restricted to LEO, takes MONTHS to turn around, spends at least a day out of every mission checking tiles, has only launched ~130 times in 30 years, and 40% of the fleet has experienced fatal crashes. It hasn't come within 5 AU of the hype from back when it was first proposed.

    7. Re:The Big B finally weighs in. by CraftyJack · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In other words, Boeing is a lot more savvy to how the aerospace market actually works, as opposed to how we would like it to work.

  2. What about SpaceX? by kindups · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't think this is the first commerical spacecraft. SpaceX has been working on their Dragon capsule along with the lift vehicles.

  3. If by "show off" you mean "a couple of paintings" by jfengel · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's an article about it that sucks slightly less, with more and bigger paintings:

    http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1007/21boeing/

    It's still a stretch to call it "showing off" when you haven't even got a mock up.

  4. Man, that thing has serious lines! by StefanJ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just looking at it . . . wow, inspirational! Like a soaring eagle caught in a trash can, or a supersonic fighter melted down and used to cast an extrusion mold for dog treats.

  5. Re:If by "show off" you mean "a couple of painting by jfruhlinger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That second article has a cutaway view of what it would look like inside w/astronauts in it, to give you a sense of scale. Jesus, they're sure crammed in there, aren't they? What would the point of putting in so many people that they could barely move be? I suppose this thing isn't really for Shuttle-style science, just getting people to and from space stations, so they'd only have to be packed in like that for a day or two at a time...

  6. Am I the only one thats disturbed by... by Quzak · · Score: 3, Funny

    Inflatable Spacecraft? If we cant take knives on a plane...just imagine what we cant take on those craft

    --
    Support your local school shooter, give them your firearms.
  7. Re:If by "show off" you mean "a couple of painting by camperdave · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, they're kind of crammed on the Dragon, too.

    I'd much rather see an HL-42 styled craft. Give me a horizontal landing, on an actual runway. None of this splashing down in the ocean and waiting for the flippin' navy to rescue you.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  8. 18 Million by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 3, Funny

    So it's made out of a special carbon fiber called Papier-mâché.

  9. /. response is the more interesting item here by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When /. first started, this article would have had 100-300 responses. The same is true of any OS type article. Yet, now it is non-intellectual articles such as facebook, pot, and job's statements, that garner the big discussions. It looks like the techs have left the building.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.