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Boeing Employees To Man CST-100 Crew Capsule

Posted by timothy on from the lockheed-employees-failed-to-volunteer dept.

The BBC reports that Boeing has a source of human passengers to populate its manned crew transport vehicle, the CST-100: Boeing employees. The CST-100 is Boeing's bid to replace more expensive options, such as the recently retired space shuttle family, for delivering astronauts to space, including to the International Space Station. The lucky employees (interns?) won't have a chance to visit space until the experimental capsule first makes two unmanned trips, lifted by an Atlas V rocket. These first three trips are all slated for 2015.

18 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Interns? by damn_registrars · · Score: 2

    I've seen rather intensive internships in my days, but never anything quite that demanding. Working interns for 18+ hours a day is one thing, but locking them into work for a week or more is quite a bit different. Does Boeing pay their interns (although in this case life insurance might be the more important bit)?

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    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:Interns? by adamchou · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Are you kidding me? I would jump at the opportunity for an internship that is going to give me time in space!

  2. At last by kurt555gs · · Score: 2

    The Atlas V uses Kerosene / LOX for it's 1st stage instead of Liquid Hydrogen. Something we learned in the 60's then forgot with the shuttle. Of course we have to buy them from the Russians.

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    * Carthago Delenda Est *
    1. Re:At last by camperdave · · Score: 4, Informative

      We didn't forget it. We chose not to apply it, and go with solids instead. Then ATK, the manufacturer of the solids bought the senator in charge of NASA's budget to make sure that everything post-shuttle had solid rockets. Hence, the ARES fiasco, and why we haven't got a shuttle replacement.

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      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    2. Re:At last by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 2

      I fail to understand your comment about LH2/LOX versus JP7/LOX. What is the point you're trying to make.

      You can put much more JP7/LOX into a given size tank than you can H2/LOX.

      Enough more that it's easier to make a rocket capable of going to orbit using JP7/LOX than H2/LOX.

      Remember that smaller fuel tanks means lighter fuel tanks means more payload, all things being equal. And they're not so unequal as to give H2 an advantage for a rocket starting on the ground....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    3. Re:At last by Migraineman · · Score: 3, Informative

      We're certainly buying the RD-180 engines from the Russians. I don't believe Pratt & Whitney is manufacturing them yet, though they have a license to do so.

      Kerosene/RP-1 is much, much easier to handle, and in spite of the lower Isp, presents a more cost effective solution from a system perspective. Optimizing the engine to run on LH2 for maximum Isp imparts an enormous programmatic cost. Would have been more cost effective to use the lower Isp engine. That's a program management failure, because a collection of point-optimized elements rarely results in an optimal system solution.

    4. Re:At last by Savantissimo · · Score: 2

      If you're going to use LOX anyway you might as well go to chilled propane at the same temperature as the LOX. Chilled, it has the same density as kerosene, less tendency to gunk up the pipes when hot, better regenerative cooling capacity and better Isp than kerosene. (Ethane is good, too.) For upper stages hydrogen still often makes sense, even with the tank size, the insulation needed and the lack of storability - the better Isp really pays off when you're already at a high speed. The low weight of H2 helps, and the higher velocity exhaust works more efficiently at high spacecraft speeds (that's really just restating what Isp means).

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      "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
  3. Re:This would be sweet... by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 3, Informative

    Question, is the Atlas rocket man rated for space?

    Not yet. But three of the four CommercialCrew contractors have chosen the Atlas. (The fourth, obviously, is SpaceX.)

    Why are we developing new LEO rockets when we already have working ones, aside from payload capacity?

    Independent experts in Utah have advised certain learned members of congress that no alternative is viable.

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    Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
  4. Oblig by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 2

    Saturday morning breakfast cereal, for a change.

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    Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
  5. hmmm.. by damn_registrars · · Score: 2

    Does Boeing pay their interns (although in this case life insurance might be the more important bit)?

    Since the market price for the trip is $20~35 million they are paid much better than the Boeing CEO. They are getting in one week the value of what's paid to the CEO in a year

    I think you're on to something here!

    Let's send the Boeing CEO in to space, and let him pay back the company the cost of the trip out of his own paycheck! And while we're at it, if we can send one CEO to space, let's send all our CEOs into space!

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    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  6. Re:This would be sweet... by Brucelet · · Score: 2

    Post-Constellation, we're not. The current NASA plan is to develop a heavy lift launcher capable of manned missions to unspecified targets such as the moon/mars/asteroids. Atlas is a fine ride to LEO but you need something larger to go farther.

  7. Re:you see those drawings? by codepunk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yep and it is exactly the direction that should be taken. I know if it was my ass on the line I would take a capsule over a over engineered shuttle any day.

    The shuttle was a incredible show of stupidity. Why hoist all of the control surfaces, landing gear, associated control equipment into space just so it can land on a runway.

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    Got Code?
  8. Re:This would be sweet... by 0123456 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Post-Constellation, we're not. The current NASA plan is to develop a heavy lift launcher capable of manned missions to unspecified targets such as the moon/mars/asteroids.

    Unspecified missions to unspecified targets that will never happen so long as most of NASA's budget is being wasted on a jobs program... sorry, heavy lift launcher.

    Atlas is a fine ride to LEO but you need something larger to go farther.

    That's like saying you need a bigger spacecraft than the shuttle to build a space station because Skylab was launched on a Saturn V. In reality you split the payload into smaller sized chunks and launch them on something far more cost-effective than a NASA boondoggle that will cost billions of dollars every time it flies because it only does so once a year and needs 10,000 people to prepare it for launch. Most of the mass you need to put into orbit for a long-range spacecraft is fuel, which can easily be split across multiple launches.

  9. Re:...privately run space labs and hotels... by 0123456 · · Score: 2

    If we ever get space hotels, I guess I can just go there with my flying car instead.

    Bigelow already has two 'space hotel' modules in orbit for long-term testing and Falcon/Dragon could fly tourists there for significantly less than the cost of a trip to ISS. You'll almost certainly see a space hotel before you see a commercially-viable flying car.

  10. Equivalent statements... by DryGrian · · Score: 2
    1986

    Teacher: "And what do YOU want to be when you grow up?"

    Timmy: "I want to be an Astronaut!"

    2011

    Teacher: "And what do YOU want to be when you grow up?"

    Timmy: "I want to work at Boeing!"

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    For optimal comment enjoyment, take red pill now.
  11. In this case, redshirts is a better term. by master_p · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sorry, couldn't resist.

  12. Unmanned IS the interns by kmahan · · Score: 2

    The first two unmanned flights will be crewed by interns. The third is the manned one with actual Boeing employees.

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    Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
  13. Sounds familiar... by mmaddox · · Score: 2

    In the not-too-distant future --
    Next Sunday, A.D. --
    There was a guy named Joel,
    Not too different than you or me.
    He worked in a satellite loading bay,
    Just polishing switches to pay his way;
    He did his job well with a cheerful face,
    But his bosses didn't like him
    So they shot him into spaaaaaaaaace......

    --

    What'dya mean there's no BLINK tag!?