CST-100

[Sam Grey]

Garixon пишет:

Sam Grey пишет:

us2-star пишет:
Птички птичками, а я ставлю на то, что именно эта штука повезёт астронавтов на ISS году в 18-м    

(затаив дыхание) В 18? На Атлас-5? С РД-180?

с ними родимыми, или американцы всерьёз решили отвалить Боингу 6,8 млрд баксов, при том что Спэйсэксу досталось всего лишь 2,6 тех же самых млрдов, только для того чтоб на ветер деньги пустить, с учётом натянутых отношений с Россией, России так же выгодно засылать "партнёрских астронов на МКС так же как и продавать за бугор свои движки, Маск уже пытался пролоббировать закон на запрет закупок РД-180, и остался с носом, буквально несколько дней назад был запущен Атлас-5 с секретной ПН

Ага...  И много они так налетают на РД-180? У ULA все движки наперед уже расписаны, под военку и "шпионов". Или будем заказ движков Амроссу увеличивать, на радость конгрессу и общественности?  

А если без шуток, похоже что Пушк Falcon - это наше всё. А Falcon Heavy - наше остальное всё.

Боинг с ULA будут потохонечку допиливать Атлас с безовским Бе-4, Дельта будет помогать с военными грузами, а с остальным - к SpaceX. 

И пусть NASA молится, чтобы следующая после Обамы администрация SLS не прикрыла.

[Garixon]

Sam Grey пишет:

Garixon пишет:

Sam Grey пишет:

us2-star пишет:
Птички птичками, а я ставлю на то, что именно эта штука повезёт астронавтов на ISS году в 18-м    

(затаив дыхание) В 18? На Атлас-5? С РД-180?

с ними родимыми, или американцы всерьёз решили отвалить Боингу 6,8 млрд баксов, при том что Спэйсэксу досталось всего лишь 2,6 тех же самых млрдов, только для того чтоб на ветер деньги пустить, с учётом натянутых отношений с Россией, России так же выгодно засылать "партнёрских астронов на МКС так же как и продавать за бугор свои движки, Маск уже пытался пролоббировать закон на запрет закупок РД-180, и остался с носом, буквально несколько дней назад был запущен Атлас-5 с секретной ПН

Ага... И много они так налетают на РД-180? У ULA все движки наперед уже расписаны, под военку и "шпионов". Или будем заказ движков Амроссу увеличивать, на радость конгрессу и общественности?

А если без шуток, похоже что Пушк Falcon - это наше всё. А Falcon Heavy - наше остальное всё.

Боинг с ULA будут потохонечку допиливать Атлас с безовским Бе-4, Дельта будет помогать с военными грузами, а с остальным - к SpaceX.

И пусть NASA молится, чтобы следующая после Обамы администрация SLS не прикрыла.

время, вещь крайне труднопрогнозируемая    , поживём увидим, загадывать не стоит, а то может ещё один астероид настолько близко пролететь, что планы останутся исключительно таковыми!  

[Петр Зайцев]

Sam Grey пишет:

И пусть NASA молится, чтобы следующая после Обамы администрация SLS не прикрыла.

Еще раз поясняю для тех, кто не силен в американской политике: Обама прикрыл Constellation, после чего продажные сенаторы (такие как Ричард Шелби, Барбара Микульски, и пр.) протолкнули специальный закон, в котором ясно сказано: строить попил-ракету с использованием компонентов Шаттла. И точка. Обаме пришлось сдуться. В США верховная власть принадлежит Конгрессу, а президент исполняет его волю. А Болден тут вообще мелкая сошка.

Так что сотрудникам Центра имени Маршалла нужно молиться не чтобы следующая админстрация не прикрыла их игрушки, а чтобы Шелби не отдал богу душу.

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/01/27/boeing-spacex-on-track-for-commercial-crew-flights-to-station-in-2017/

Boeing, SpaceX on track for commercial crew flights to station in 2017       
Posted on January 27, 2015 by William Harwood

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION

File photo of the International Space Station as seen by a space shuttle crew in 2010. Credit: NASA
 
NASA expects to spend some $5 billion underwriting development of commercial spacecraft built by Boeing and SpaceX to carry astronauts to and fr om the International Space Station, officials said Monday, ending sole reliance on the Russians for crew ferry flights and eventually lowering the average cost per seat to around $58 million.
Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, said her company's upgraded Dragon V2 ferry craft should be ready for an initial unpiloted flight to the space station in late 2016 with the first crewed flight, likely carrying a SpaceX test pilot and a NASA astronaut, in early 2017.
John Elbon, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration, said his company's CST-100 spacecraft is expected to be ready for an uncrewed test flight in April 2017, followed by a crewed flight, with a Boeing pilot and a NASA astronaut, in the July 2017 timeframe.
Both companies must complete the crewed and uncrewed test flights before NASA certification, which will pave the way for the start of operational crew rotation and cargo delivery flights to the International Space Station later in 2017. Until then, NASA will continue to rely on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to carry U.S. and partner crew members to and from the lab complex.
"Commercial crew is incredibly important to the space station, it's important to reduce the cost of transportation to low-Earth orbit so that NASA has within its budget the capability to develop means to explore beyond low-Earth orbit," Elbon said during a news conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "And importantly, I think, it's beginning a whole new industry. ... We're making great progress on the program."
Said Shotwell: "Our crew Dragon leverages the cargo capability that we've been flying successfully to the International Space Station. However, we understand, and we've been told, that crew is clearly different. So there are a number of upgrades that we've been working for the past few years to assure that this crew version of Dragon is as reliable as it can possibly be. Ultimately, we plan for it to be the most reliable spaceship flying crew ever."

Спойлер

In the wake of the space shuttle's retirement, NASA started a competition to build a commercial crewed spacecraft, with the first in a series of contracts intended to encourage innovative designs for reliable, affordable transportation to and from low-Earth orbit.
Last September, NASA announced that Boeing had won a $4.2 billion Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCAP) contract to continue development of the company's CST-100 capsule while SpaceX would receive $2.6 billion to press ahead with work to perfect its futuristic Dragon crew craft.
A third competitor, Sierra Nevada, was left out, and the company filed a protest with the General Accountability Office, arguing its Dream Chaser spaceplane was unfairly passed over. But the GAO ruled earlier this month that NASA's selection of Boeing and SpaceX was justified, clearing the space agency to proceed with the CCtCAP contracts.
SpaceX and Boeing hold contracts covering two test flights and two operational missions per company with options for additional operational missions between them.

Artist's concept of Boeing's CST-100 crew capsule separating from the Centaur upper stage of the Atlas 5 launcher. Credit: Boeing
 
Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft is a state-of-the-art, reusable capsule incorporating weld-less fabrication, flight proven navigation software, powerful "pusher" escape rockets to propel the capsule away from a malfunctioning booster and a parachute-and-airbag landing system.
For NASA flights, the spacecraft will be used to carry four astronauts at a time to the space station, along with critical cargo. It will be launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, one of the most reliable boosters in the U.S. inventory.
Elbon said construction has started on a launch pad crew access tower and work platforms needed to service CST-100s in a former shuttle processing hangar. A simulator will be installed at the Johnson Space Center in the same building that once housed shuttle flight simulators and Boeing is working out procedures to use NASA's mission control center for ascent, rendezvous and re-entry.
"The flight software will be delivered later this summer, we'll have the simulator running with the flight software and flight computers and 26 of the 34 flight displays," Elbon said. "So there will be a real opportunity for the crew to interface with that software and understand how the vehicle's going to operate."
Boeing plans a launch pad abort test in February 2017 "where we'll fully check out the abort system" before staging the first unpiloted test flight to the space station the following April. Elbon said Boeing should be ready for the first crewed test flight in July 2017. Assuming the test flights go well and NASA certifies the CST-100, Boeing expects to be ready for its first operational mission in December 2017.
SpaceX already flies to the space station under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA for a dozen uncrewed cargo flights using the company's Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rockets.
The crewed version of the spacecraft will be able to carry up to seven astronauts — typically four for station missions — and features futuristic pull-down flat-screen displays, a powerful escape rocket system and sophisticated computer control. As with the automated cargo ships, the crew capsules will be launched atop Falcon 9 boosters.
Shotwell said SpaceX is gearing up for a pad abort test in the next month or so when a Dragon spacecraft will be shot off the launch pad using its escape rockets to demonstrate the ability to pull a crew away from a catastrophic low-altitude booster malfunction. A second abort test will be carried out later this year to demonstrate escape during the most aerodynamically stressful regions of powered flight.

Artist's concept of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Credit: SpaceX
 
"The Integrated launch abort system is critically important to us, we think it gives incredible safety features for a full abort all the way through ascent," Shotwell said. SpaceX founder and chief designer Elon Musk hopes to eventually use the abort system for rocket-powered landings at the end of a mission, but initial flights will splash down in the ocean much like Dragon cargo missions.
While SpaceX is a relative newcomer to the rocket industry, Shotwell said the company will have launched more than 50 Falcon 9 rockets by the time astronauts strap into a Dragon V2 for the first piloted test flight. She said SpaceX will install a simulator at the Johnson Space Center for crew training, but likely will monitor ascent, rendezvous and re-entry from the company's Hawthorne, Calif., rocket plant wh ere Dragon supply flights are managed.
"We anticipate doing our uncrewed mission to the International Space Station on this upgraded crew vehicle later in '16, shortly followed thereafter with our crewed flight in early 2017, as shortly as we can make it and still maintain reliability and safety," she said. "We certainly understand the incredible responsibility we've been given to build the systems necessary and capable of flying crew."
Along with ferrying astronauts to and from the space station, the Boeing and SpaceX capsules also will be able to serve as lifeboats for station crew members, remaining attached to the station for more than 200 days at a stretch to give U.S. and partner astronauts a way home in an emergency.
The new spacecraft will be the first American vehicles to carry astronauts on NASA-sanctioned flights since the space shuttle's last mission in 2011 and the first built under more commercially structured contracts intended to lower costs.
The CST-100 and upgraded Dragon also will end America's reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for access to the International Space Station. Under NASA's latest contract with Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, U.S. seats cost around $70 million each. Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA's commercial crew program, said the agency eventually will save, on average, more than $10 million a seat using U.S. spacecraft.
"Overall, when we go through the whole development activity ... we'll have invested about $5 billion," she said. "In addition, when you look at pricing for the missions across the five years we have pricing for, we're able to get an average seat cost of about $58 million per seat."
But NASA's use of Soyuz spacecraft will not end with the advent of U.S. space taxis.
Mike Suffredini, manager of the space station program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a Jan. 15 interview with CBS News that NASA still plans to use one seat per Soyuz for the duration of the station program. The Russians, likewise, will be able to launch a cosmonaut on each U.S.-sponsored flight.
Assuming both parties ultimately agree, "the Russians will fly twice a year, or whatever rate they need to do their job, and we will have a crew member on each of their flights," Suffredini said. "We will fly ours at whatever rate we think we need to do our job and they will put a single crew member on it."
During the news conference Monday, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said "I don't ever want to have to write another check to (the Russian federal space agency) Roscosmos after 2017, hopefully. That's why I'm looking to John and Gwynne to deliver. You've heard both of them say they think they'll be flying by 2017. If we can make that date, I'm a happy camper."
But NASA has to be prepared for contingencies and the commercial crew schedule is optimistic. Space station planners do not yet know for sure when a commercial ferry craft will begin operational missions and orders for Soyuz seats must be placed three years in advance.
"So I'm about to tell (Roscosmos) whether I want seats in 2018 right now, and we don't have any more insights (into commercial crew progress) really than the proposals," Suffredini said. "So we've got to go get some seats."
Longer term, he said NASA plans to continue flying on Soyuz after Boeing and SpaceX begin operational missions, but under a barter arrangement of some sort.
"We're assuming two Russian seats a year and we're assuming two Russians will fly in our seats per year," Suffredini said. "And it'll just be a quid pro quo, we won't ask for compensation."

[свернуть]

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/01/27/boeing-expected-to-win-first-operational-space-taxi-order/

Boeing expected to win first operational space taxi order       
Posted on January 27, 2015 by Stephen Clark

NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik participates in a fit check in a mock-up of Boeing's CST-100 capsule. Credit: Boeing
 
Boeing is poised to win NASA's first order for operational commercial missions to send up astronauts to the International Space Station, a NASA official said Monday.
The aerospace giant is one of two companies NASA sel ected to build commercial space taxis to transport crews to and from the space station. SpaceX, a newcomer to human spaceflight, cinched a separate contract with NASA.
NASA announced Boeing and SpaceX as the winners of deals worth a maximum combined value of $6.8 billion. The contracts guarantee each company at least two full-up crew rotation missions to the space station — plus options for up to six flights — through 2019.
The operational missions will launch after Boeing's CST-100 capsule and SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft are certified by NASA to carry human passengers. Each craft will fly on unpiloted and crewed test flights to the space station before NASA approves normal missions for takeoff.
The contracts allow NASA to submit task orders as needed for each operator to fly crew transport missions.
Kathy Lueders, head of NASA's commercial crew program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, said Monday that Boeing is likely to receive the space agency's first order for a commercially-operated operational human-rated spacecraft. Officials said Boeing could be asked for two flights, meeting the company's minimum contractual quota.
She said a decision to award Boeing NASA's first order for human spaceflight services is a function of giving the company time to get in line on the United Launch Alliance mission manifest. Boeing's CST-100 capsule will blast off on ULA's Atlas 5 rocket, which is nearly fully booked with a mix of U.S. military payloads, NASA science missions, and a few commercial satellites over the next few years.
"We need to give them enough lead time to be able to get the rocket fr om ULA, and then be able to support processing," Lueders told reporters Monday at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Although Boeing is expected to get the first task order — a milestone called authority to proceed by NASA — it is not guaranteed to be the first to fly astronauts to the space station.
"The first mission that we will be looking at 'ATPing' is actually — right now — a Boeing mission, just because of the differences in lead time, and the need to start having services in the late 2017 or 2018 timeframe," Lueders said. "We know that we are going to have to begin the process to ATP our missions."
Boeing and SpaceX say they will be certified for regular astronaut transportation by December 2017, when NASA's agreement with Russia for crew launches expires. The latest deal with Russia, finalized in April 2014, ensures U.S. astronauts have a ride to the space station through the end of 2017, with provisions for landings into 2018.
Boeing plans a crewed demonstration mission with two astronauts to the International Space Station in July 2017.
John Elbon, vice president and general manager of Boeing's space exploration division, said the CST-100 is already reserved for slots in ULA's manifest for an unmanned test flight in February 2017 and the piloted mission in July 2017.
SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said the Crew Dragon spacecraft is scheduled for its first unmanned flight in late 2016, followed by shakedown mission with a crew in early 2017. The Dragon capsule will launch on SpaceX's own Falcon 9 booster.
"If you listen to their schedule ... SpaceX is saying they're going to fly first, but we'll see," Lueders said. "We'll work with them, and we both know that they still have a ways to go working through their certification schedule.
"We don't want to be pushing on just the schedule because the most important thing is for them to develop their systems in a careful (way), and we need to give them enough time to deliver their system as safely as possible," Lueders said.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

[Александр Ч.]

Atlas 5 launch pad being prepared for astronaut crews

Work on Boeing's CST-100 commercial crew capsule will ramp up at the program's new home base in Florida this year, with construction of a crew access tower at the Atlas 5 rocket's launch pad underway and assembly of a spacecraft test article due to begin in a converted space shuttle hangar.

"We started construction on the crew access tower on the Atlas 5 launch pad," said John Elbon said, vice president and general manager for Boeing's space exploration division. "That will be assembled in between the launches that happen on Atlas 5."

A formal groundbreaking ceremony is planned for February, but construction workers have already taken core samples to prepare for pouring of the tower's foundation, Boeing officials said Monday.

It will take about 18 months to complete construction of the tower, which will be installed a few feet to the west of the Atlas 5's launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

When the structure is finished, astronauts will use it to board the CST-100 capsule mounted atop United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket. The commercial spaceship will launch on a version of the workhorse booster with two solid rocket boosters and two RL10 upper stage engines.

The CST-100's first two space missions — an unpiloted test flight and a demo mission with a two-person crew — are set for April and July 2017.

"The 52nd Atlas 5 mission flew a week or so ago," Elbon said Monday. "Our orbital flight test, which is the uncrewed flight to the station, will be the 74th Atlas 5 mission, and the crewed flight test will be the 80th Atlas 5 mission. We've got those flights on the manifest, which is exciting."

Boeing won a contract worth up to $4.2 billion to complete development of the CST-100 spacecraft and fly at least six operational missions to rotate astronaut crews on the International Space Station. The capsule will remain attached to the complex for up to 210 days, serving as a lifeboat back to Earth in case of an emergency.



SpaceX is working on a separate spacecraft dubbed the Crew Dragon, which will blast off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center's Apollo- and shuttle-era launch pad 39A — now undergoing its own modifications.

One of the most visible changes in store at Cape Canaveral will be the build-up of a new structure at the Atlas 5's launch facility.

The launch complex was originally designed as a "clean pad" without permanent service towers. The Atlas 5 rocket is stacked in the Vertical Integration Facility about 1,800 feet south of the launch pad. The rocket rolls to the launch pad on the eve of liftoff on top of a mobile launch table, which locks into place over the flame trench to connect the rocket with propellant plumbing and electrical power.

Engineers will assemble a crew access tower standing more than 20 stories tall, topped with a retractable arm with a white room through which astronauts will enter the CST-100 spacecraft. Engineers also designed a crew escape system designed to whisk astronauts safely away from the rocket in case of a dangerous countdown mishap.

The tower, which will sit on a 20-foot by 20-foot ground footprint, will be about a car width away from the mounting point for the Atlas 5 rocket's mobile umbilical tower and launch platform.

ULA officials told reporters in a briefing last year the construction project would take about 18 months to complete. One of the first steps in construction will be to excavate about 30 feet of concrete, then drive 30-inch diameter pillars 105 feet into Florida bedrock.

Workers will prepare seven segments comprising the main structure of the crew access tower at a nearby staging point before transporting the steel sections to the launch pad between Atlas 5 launches for hoisting by a crane.

Once construction teams add the crew access arm and steel cladding, ULA plans to hook up hydraulics and instrumentation while testing the system with a CST-100 mockup at the launch pad.

The Atlas 5's busy manifest, filled with missions for the U.S. military, NASA and commercial customers, will continue unabated during the launch pad rework.

Up to 14 Atlas 5 launches are planned from the launch pad during the 18-month construction phase.

Orlando, Florida-based Hensel Phelps Construction Co. is leading the contractor team working on the Atlas 5 launch pad modifications.

ULA is also working on an emergency detection system to be bolted to Atlas 5 rockets on crewed missions. The avionics box will monitor the health of the launch vehicle and trigger an in-flight abort if it detects a major anomaly.



While construction crews work on the Atlas 5 launch pad, Boeing expects the first CST-100 capsule components to arrive at the spacecraft's manufacturing facility at Kennedy Space Center in February, Elbon said.

The components will be integrated into the CST-100's structural test article, a ground version of the capsule designed for testing.

"We build that up and we load it to make sure that the design matches the load paths," Elbon said. "This fall, the pieces that will make up the qualification test vehicle, which then gets refurbished to become the crew flight test vehicle, will be arriving."

Boeing's CST-100 factory is inside the space shuttle program's Orbiter Processing Facility No. 3, which NASA used to work on shuttles between flights. Boeing has renamed the building — to the northwest of the huge Vehicle Assembly Building — the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility, or C3PF.

Most of Boeing's CST-100 team will relocate to Florida this year. The capsule's critical design review is scheduled for March, Elbon said, completing the program's design phase and clearing the spacecraft to begin manufacturing.

Some of the program's offices responsible for crew training and mission operations will remain in Houston. The same mission control and crew training team — composed of NASA civil servant and contractors — that oversees daily activities on the space station and prepares astronauts for spaceflight have been subcontracted to work on Boeing's commercial space capsule.

"Our design activity has happened here in Houston," Elbon told reporters at JSC. "We've got 400 to 500 people working here today. We've teamed with the NASA flight operations directorate to do our mission planning, training and flying, mainly to leverage that expertise. That organization is world-class, and they've been doing that for a long time. That will be done here.

"The crew will be trained in Houston, the mission planning will be done in Houston, and mission control will be out of the Mission Control Center," Elbon said. "Having said that, all the manufacturing, the program office and the engineering will eventually migrate to Florida. We're building up the team in Florida as we finish the design in Houston."

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

[Astro Cat]

Про все 3 корабля:

[Grus]

Garixon пишет: с ними родимыми, или американцы всерьёз решили отвалить Боингу 6,8 млрд баксов, при том что Спэйсэксу досталось всего лишь 2,6 тех же самых млрдов, только для того чтоб на ветер деньги пустить, с учётом натянутых отношений с Россией, России так же выгодно засылать "партнёрских астронов на МКС так же как и продавать за бугор свои движки, Маск уже пытался пролоббировать закон на запрет закупок РД-180, и остался с носом, буквально несколько дней назад был запущен Атлас-5 с секретной ПН

Читайте внимательно, Boeing - 4,2 миллиарда. И Маск не остался с носом, а добился, что его в начале этого года окончательно сертифицируют для запуска нагрузок ВВС и он будет участвовать в тендерах. Этого он и добивался.

Еще вы не знаете значения слова "лоббировать". Он подал иск и получил судебный запрет. Запрет отменили, но приняли закон. Так это делается у них. Но закон касается заключения контрактов, а не исполнения.

[Gaetanomarano]

Astronauts to fly on an Atlas in 2017 ... 55 years after John Glenn's first flight on the Atlas booster/vehicle family.

[Garixon]

Grus пишет:
Читайте внимательно, Boeing - 4,2 миллиарда. И Маск не остался с носом, а добился, что его в начале этого года окончательно сертифицируют для запуска нагрузок ВВС и он будет участвовать в тендерах. Этого он и добивался.

Еще вы не знаете значения слова "лоббировать". Он подал иск и получил судебный запрет. Запрет отменили, но приняли закон. Так это делается у них. Но закон касается заключения контрактов, а не исполнения.

ну да, про Boeing я допустил описку, а что касаемо остального - после того как в РФ запретили поставлять в Штаты, РД-180 на Атлас-5 для военных ПН, и подал иск в Конгресс США? насколько мне помнится, именно Конгресс наложил запрет тогда в целом, на закупки РД-180, и именно это я имел ввиду  

[che wi]

Atlas V CST-100: Space Launch Complex-41 Pad Modifications

The Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft, which will launch atop ULA's Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex (SLC)-41, is under development by Boeing. CST-100 will be certified to fly crews to and from the International Space Station. The team's innovative designs for a Crew Access Tower and Crew Access Arm allow flight crews to safely ingress and egress the CST-100 capsule. Each segment of the new tower and arm will be built at an off-site location and assembled at the pad between launches. The tower and other elements will take approximately 18 months and will not impact any scheduled launches at the pad.

[Salo]

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/02/20/launch-america-getting-new-access-gantry-for-astronauts-2/

Launch America getting new access gantry for astronauts       
Posted on February 20, 2015 by Justin Ray

 CAPE CANAVERAL — A groundbreaking Friday ceremonially commenced construction of an astronaut access tower at United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 launch pad in Florida, a 200-foot-tall gantry that will add to the future of U.S. human spaceflight.
Atlas 5 rockets will launch Boeing's Crew Space Transportation-100 capsules starting in mid-2017, leading to NASA astronaut taxi missions to the International Space Station beginning at the end of 2017.
The CST-100 and the SpaceX crewed Dragon spacecraft are the near-term answer to returning launches of people to the U.S. since retirement of the space shuttle orbiters in 2011. The commercial providers will service the low-Earth orbit destination for NASA astronauts under the space policy spelled out by President Obama, leaving the space agency to focus on deep-space with its Orion vehicles.
"Today is a very important date in space history. It was 53 years ago today that John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth, launching on an Atlas rocket just a few miles from here," said Jim Sponnick, vice president of Atlas and Delta Programs at ULA.
"We're thrilled to be collaborating with The Boeing Co. and NASA to be continuing that legacy and returning America to launching astronauts to the space station."
The CST-100's first two space missions will see an unpiloted test flight in April 2017 and a demo mission with a two-person crew in July 2017.
The Atlas 5, having flown 52 times since its debut August 2002 in unmanned satellite-deployment missions, has carried out 19 flights dedicated to the Defense Department, 11 for NASA, 11 with spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office and 11 commercial missions with communications and Earth-observing spacecraft.
"The Atlas 5, with unrivaled technical and schedule reliability, is the obvious choice for a commercial crew launch vehicle. We've had 52 successful launches, 100 percent mission success, and we're really excited that Flight No. 73 is going to have a CST-100 capsule," said John Mulholland, vice president of Boeing commercial programs.
The new crew access tower, positioned in the northwest corner of the launch pad, is being built in sections off-site and moved to Complex 41 in between ongoing Atlas launch activities for stacking. It will take 18 months to complete.
"It's really unique the way ULA is conducting all of the pad modifications here in the middle of one of the busiest manifests at any pad," Mulholland said.
Once built, the tower will stand 200 feet tall and feature an elevator to take personnel from the ground to the top, a slide-wire basket evacuation system for emergencies and a 42-foot-long swing arm at the 172-foot-level that will be the threshold to enter the capsules.
The CST-100 is designed to transport up to seven passengers or a mix of crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit destinations such as the International Space Station and Bigelow's planned commercial station. The capsules are designed to be reused up to 10 times.
The vehicles, with a crew compartment and a service module, will be operated from a hub at Kennedy Space Center, using the former space shuttle processing hangar No. 3 to build and ready the capsules for flight.
Atlas 5s will be assembled in the Vertical Integration Facility and then rolled out to the launch pad, spending minimal time in the "clean pad" concept of operations used by ULA at Complex 41.

 The rocket will fly in the man-rated 422 configuration, which is a two-stage launcher with a Common Core Booster powered by an RD-180 main engine, two strap-on Aerojet Rocketdyne solid-fuel boosters and a Centaur upper stage with dual RL10 engines also made by Aerojet Rocketdyne.
NASA says it will soon pick a cadre of astronauts to begin training on both the Boeing and SpaceX vehicles. The actual first crewmwembers to fly them will come from the group.
The remodeling of the KSC hangar is progressing ahead of arrival for the structural test article hardware and later this year the hardware for crewed flight test for assembly.
Boeing engineers are finishing the design in preparation for the Critical Design Review in March that locks in the systems' architecture and allows manufacturing to begin in earnest.
Later this summer, the flight software will be completed and will power flight displays in the simulator for astronauts to practice. Eventual training simulators include a mission spacecraft for mock flight, an ingress/egress trainer and a water egress trainer at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
"It's important that the spacecraft have manual controls. It's designedly largely to be autonomous, but the pilot will always be there to back up the autonomy in case something happens. It's sort of like a belt and suspenders for a spacecraft," said Chris Ferguson, the final shuttle crew commander and now Boeing's crew and mission operations director.

 A launch pad abort test is planned for February 2017, followed in April by an uncrewed CST-100 flight to the International Space Station. The first crewed mission — featuring one Boeing test pilot and one NASA astronaut — is planned for July 2017. The first taxi services mission for NASA to the space station by Boeing is planned for December 2017.
"I don't ever want to write another check to Roscosmos after 2017, hopefully, that's why I'm looking to (Boeing) and (SpaceX) to deliver. You heard both of them say they'll be flying by 2017. If we can make that date, I'm a happy camper," said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden.
"We are planning for a first day rendezvous. The capsule will then stay connected to station for six months as a lifeboat, then leave station and land within five-to-six hours. It's a very similar profile to Soyuz," said John Elbon, vice president and general manager for Boeing's space exploration division.
"The CST-100 capsule is designed to be used 10 times. So we will recover it, refurbish it in the facility at KSC and fly it again," said Elbon.
"Commercial crew is incredibly important to the space station, it's important to reduce the cost of transportation to low-Earth orbit so that NASA has within its budget the capability to develop means to explore beyond low-Earth orbit," Elbon said. "And importantly, I think, it's beginning a whole new industry. ... We're making great progress on the program."

[Salo]

http://vz.ru/news/2015/3/17/734813.html

В состав экипажа нового американского корабля может войти российский космонавт

17 марта 2015, 11:36
Фото: nasa.gov

В состав экипажа американского коммерческого корабля, который отправится к МКС в конце 2017 – начале 2018 года, предложено включить российского космонавта, сообщил источник в ракетно-космической отрасли.

«Американская сторона в рамках двухсторонних договоренностей предложила включить в состав корабля CST-100 одного российского космонавта», – сообщил источник ТАСС.
По его словам, кандидатов на полет несколько, включая Олега Котова, Александра Калери, Федора Юрчихина и Олега Артемьева. «Российская сторона определится с кандидатом в ноябре – декабре этого года», –  уточнил источник.
Boeing уже не первый год работает над созданием пилотируемого корабля, получившего название CST-100. В корабле четыре места – три из них займут американские астронавты.
В прошлом году в НАСА решили выделить Boeing 4,2 млрд долларов на достраивание корабля.
Космическое агентство США рассчитывает, что новый корабль сможет совершить свой первый испытательный полет в 2017 году. Директор НАСА Чарльз Болден заявил, что это позволит Соединенным Штатам «отказаться от зависимости от России в отправке астронавтов на МКС». В настоящее время международные экипажи добираются до орбитального комплекса только на российских «Союзах».

[triage]

http://tass.ru/kosmos/1833681
Россиянин может попасть на первый рейс нового американского космического корабля

МОСКВА, 17 марта. /ТАСС/. Российский космонавт может войти в состав экипажа американского коммерческого корабля CST-100, который отправится к МКС в конце 2017 - начале 2018 года, сообщил сегодня ТАСС источник в ракетно-космической отрасли.

"Американская сторона в рамках двухсторонних договоренностей предложила включить в состав корабля CST-100 одного российского космонавта", - сказал собеседник агентства.
По его словам, кандидатов на полет несколько, включая Олега Котова, Александра Калери, Федора Юрчихина и Олега Артемьева. "Российская сторона определится с кандидатом в ноябре-декабре этого года", - уточнил источник.
Официальный комментарий Роскосмоса и Центра подготовки космонавтов ТАСС получить пока не удалось.
Планируется, что полет CST-100 к Международной космической станции может состояться в период с декабря 2017 по май 2018 года. Корабль, разрабатываемый компанией Boeing, будет четырехместным - еще три места займут американские астронавты.

Полеты по взаимозачету
Полеты российских космонавтов на МКС на американских кораблях будут проводиться по взаимозачету за полеты американцев на кораблях серии "Союз", сообщил ТАСС директор программ пилотируемых космических полетов НАСА в России Шон Фуллер.
"Мы будем взаимно обмениваться местами на наших кораблях", - пояснил он.
"Мы предполагаем, что на "Союзе", где три места, будут летать два русских космонавта и один американский астронавт, а на коммерческом американском корабле будут три американских астронавта и один русский космонавт, поскольку там четыре места", - уточнил Фуллер.
Таким образом он прокомментировал данные о том, что российских космонавт может войти в состав экипажа американского корабля CST-100 от Boeing, который, как ожидается, отправится к МКС в конце 2017 - начале 2018 года.
"Мы ожидаем, что в конце 2017 года будут осуществляться полеты этих кораблей, и они будут доставлять четырех членов экипажа на космическую станцию", - сказал собеседник агентства.
Таким образом, подчеркнул он, доставлять космонавтов на МКС смогут российские "Союзы", а также американские корабли разработки Boeing и SpaceX. Сегодня для доставки экипажей на станции используются только "Союзы". Осенью НАСА планирует подписать с Роскосмосом очередной контракт по доставке астронавтов на МКС, рассчитанный на 2018 год.

На первый рейс они кажется погорячились в жарком заголовке.
Да и насчет трех американских астронавтов на американском корабле кажется пишут неправильно - европейцы, японцы на чем летать будут?

[Bell]

Salo пишет:
В состав экипажа нового американского корабля может войти российский космонавт

Заложника хотя взять на случай отказа РД-180

[Дмитрий Инфан]

Salo пишет:
http://vz.ru/news/2015/3/17/734813.html

В состав экипажа нового американского корабля может войти российский космонавт

А если без шуток, то - нафига?

[SFN]

Дмитрий Инфан пишет:
А если без шуток, то - нафига?

Для того, чтобы в Союзе тоже сидел один варяг.
Таким образом при любом развитии событий обеспечивается присутствие на МКС хотя бы одного человека ответственного за свой сегмент.

[sychbird]

Интересно, а то что речь зашла именно о СST -100, а не о Dragone имеет какое-то значение в смысле прогнозов НАСА о времени первого полета к МКС нового поколения американских пилотируемых кораблей :?:

[testest2]

sychbird пишет:
имеет какое-то значение в смысле прогнозов НАСА

Писали несколько месяцев назад, что в документах НАСА фигурирует именно CST-100 как первый корабль, который отправится к МКС с плановым (не испытательным) рейсом. А вот в планах испытаний, которые компании составляют самостоятельно, Dragon с астронавтами должен посетить МКС на три месяца раньше CST-100.