Fwd: Crew capsule construction about to take off at KSC

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: October 26, 2013 3:07:20 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Crew capsule construction about to take off at KSC

Crew capsule construction about to take off at KSC

Oct. 25, 2013 7:42 PM   |  

Written by

James Dean 

FLORIDA TODAY

 

Pieces of a hatch, windows and other parts The Boeing Co. will use to build a prototype commercial space taxi should begin arriving in town within a few weeks.

 

By year's end, several hundred components needed to assemble a structural test article of the company's CST-100 spacecraft will be housed in a former shuttle hangar at Kennedy Space Center.

 

"We're really on the upswing," said John Mulholland, head of Boeing's development team, in an interview this week.

 

Jobs will follow the hardware — if Boeing wins a NASA contract next summer to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.

 

The company two years ago announced plans to hire up to 550 people to support commercial crew operations based in former shuttle facilities at KSC, including Orbiter Processing Facility 3.

 

A $6.6 million state incentive contract signed around the same time anticipated the first 140 jobs by the end of 2012, and the rest by 2015.

 

But NASA's Commercial Crew Program budget, which is also helping SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. to develop spacecraft, has stretched out the schedule.

 

The space agency now hopes to award one or two contracts by next September, leading to commercial crew flights to the ISS starting in 2017. At least one crewed orbital test flight is planned before the operational missions.

 

Other than the program schedule slipping, Mulholland said Boeing's plans for Florida operations have not changed.

 

"We're still fully committed to the intent and scope of that agreement," he said.

 

Space Florida continues a roughly $20 million renovation of the former orbiter hangar, space shuttle main engine shop and office space at KSC that Boeing said earlier this week it plans to move into next spring.

 

A joint tenancy agreement signed this summer enables Boeing to start installing systems in parallel with the modernization effort that should wrap up next summer.

 

Boeing would then be ready to assemble the structural test article, which is used to test how the vehicle handles the aerodynamic and other pressures expected during a launch and return from space.

 

Space Florida says it is finalizing the terms of a use agreement including matching investments by Boeing.

 

The state-funded improvements are considered generic enough to be useful to other tenants should Boeing not win the commercial crew competition — a possibility the company says it has not entertained.

 

"We have been completely focused on the planning for a successful award, so we haven't addressed other possibilities," Mulholland said.

 

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com.

 

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