Mary-Louise Hoffman
Boeing unveiled the prototype design for its commercial space taxi during a ceremony held Monday at a former shuttle processing site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reported Tuesday.
Richard Burnett writes that Boeing showcased a full-size CST-100 model as the end of a two-year industry competition under the NASA Commercial Crew Program draws near.
NASA picked Boeing, Sierra Nevada and SpaceX to compete for work to develop a manned vehicle that would transport astronauts to the International Space Station.
“If we are selected, we have a transition plan that would take effect immediately to move workers from Houston, Huntington Beach [Calif.] and other places,” said John Elbon, Boeing vice president for space exploration, according to the publication.
“We’ll staff up significantly by early 2015, and that is going make for a really nice impact for the Space Coast,” Elbon added.
Sierra Nevada demonstrated its DreamChaser spacecraft in a series of events, while SpaceX recently unveiled its Dragon V2 capsule in California.
NASA awarded more than $1.1 billion in contracts to Boeing, Sierra Nevada and SpaceX in 2012.
