Boeing Releases Details On New Crew Capsule 66
FleaPlus writes "Boeing has released a number of new details on its CST-100 manned space capsule, being developed in collaboration with commercial space station builder Bigelow Aerospace. Competing with SpaceX's Dragon capsule, the vehicle is designed to be compatible with existing Atlas V, Delta IV, and Falcon 9 rockets, and is planned to carry seven people in a capsule 'a little smaller than Orion, but a little bigger than Apollo.' Funding was jump-started this year with $18M of fixed-price Commercial Crew Development money from NASA, which requires completion of several fabrication and demonstration milestones this year (heat shield, escape system, landing tests, etc.) in order to get the full payment."
Re:Competing with SpaceX on their own launcher? (Score:5, Insightful)
More like designing to a standard set of interfaces between launcher and spacecraft, which is indeed good. Just as Boeing's capsule can launch on Falcon 9 as well as Atlas V and Delta IV, then presumably SpaceX's Dragon capsule could be launched on an Atlas or Delta as well as a Falcon. If one component is ever grounded for an unforseen problem, you've got a fallback position.
It's not even that odd. Having a second source for a critical subsystem makes a lot of sense, and savvy customers tend to encourage their vendors in this direction.
Re:Competing with SpaceX on their own launcher? (Score:5, Insightful)
>Having a second source for a critical subsystem makes a lot of sense, and savvy customers tend to encourage their vendors in this direction.
It is not enough to be savvy, they need to be powerful customers who can avoid a vendor lock-in.
It helps a lot if you are a customer who can set the standards because you are the only customer.
Re:Little bigger than Apollo? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re-Provision at the ISS?
Where do you figure the ISS gets it's supplies from anyhow? Aliens?
Re:Short duration (Score:3, Insightful)
The Soyuz is designed for long duration missions. What I'm talking about here is endurance. The Soyuz TMA configuration can stay at the station for 6 months and operate as a lifeboat because it was designed for that. Boeing is specifically saying their vehicle will not.
Re:Little bigger than Apollo? (Score:3, Insightful)