Mary-Louise Hoffman
Boeing has built devices that NASA intends to use to prepare four astronauts for a planned 2017 manned flight test of the company-built CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.
The company said Thursday it offered astronauts Bob Behnken and Eric Boe a trial run of training equipment designed for management of CST-100 switches and display panels.
“We have been learning about the spacecraft displays through slideshows. It’s great to finally see what we are actually going to train on,” Boe said.
Behnken added the CST-100 trainer “has a lot of capability with multiple tasks coming together so it can execute more complicated training scenarios.”
Boeing is scheduled to deliver two trainers to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, by fall 2016 and another system in early 2017.
The company will help the agency transport crews to the International Space Station under a potential $4.2 billion Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract awarded in September 2014.
