NASA awards first commercial human spaceflight mission to Boeing
NewsJune 11, 2015
HOUSTON. NASA officials issued a task order as part of Boeing’s $4.2 billion Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract to include the company’s first-ever service flight to the International Space Station (ISS) -- making it the first time in that NASA has contracted with a commercial company for a human spaceflight mission.
Boeing was chosen last fall to build and fly the next U.S. passenger spacecraft, the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100. The Commercial Crew Transportation System (CCTS) is being developed in partnership with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program which looks to resume U.S.-based flights to space by 2017.
As part of the tCap contract with NASA, Boeing is guaranteed at least two and potentially six service flights after completing human certification. The company has demonstrated to NASA officials that the CCTS has reached design maturity appropriate to proceed to assembly, integration, and test activities.
“We’re on track to fly in 2017, and this critical milestone moves us another step closer in fully maturing the CST-100 design,” says John Mulholland, vice president of Boeing Commercial Programs.
The CST-100 can transport as many as seven passengers or a mix of crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit destinations like the International Space Station (ISS) and the Bigelow planned station.
For more information about the CST-100, visit www.boeing.com/cst100.
