Boeing to fast-track ISS taxi

摘要

In a deal announced 31 October, Boeing has signed a 15-year lease with NASA for the use of Orbiter processing Facility-3 at the Kennedy Space Center for its seven-seat CST-100 crew vehicle. The deal is expected to create 500 new jobs and Boeing expects to receive up to $50m from Space Florida, that State's fund for revitalising aerospace development in the region. Boeing is convinced that with access to OPF-3 and associated SSME processing facilities for building and refurbishing spacecraft it can make a profit on launching two CST-100 flights a year to the ISS. The company is bidding for $92m worth of CCDev-2 contracts supporting CST-100 and a combined crew/ cargo logistics vehicle. The spacecraft could be launched by a variety of vehicles but Boeing has selected the Atlas V.