Boeing CST-100 capsule could replace shuttle

William Atkins
Tuesday, 27 July 2010 22:51

Science - Space

The Boeing Company has developed a space capsule that holds seven astronauts and could be used to ferry passengers and supplies back and forth to the International Space Station. Will it be chosen to partially replace the space shuttle?

 

Boeing, along with Bigelow Aerospace, is building the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100. Originally intended to ferry astronauts to Bigelow's inflatable space station of the future, it could also be used to take them to the International Space Station.

It is considered by Boeing as an affordable way to send astronauts to space.

The CST-100 capsule uses existing components and architecture from previous capsule designs, such as from Apollo.

However, it also incorporates new technologies.

It is larger than the Apollo capsule, but smaller than the earlier proposed Orion capsule, as part of the official NASA Constellation program.

However, Boeing is not alone is trying to develop a new capsule for NASA under its Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program.

Other competitors include Blue Origin, Paragon Space Development Corp., Sierra Nevada Corp., United Launch Alliance, and, possibly, even Virgin Galactic and SpaceX.

Page two concludes with a video of the Boeing CST-100.