Boeing spacecraft astronauts see a new frontier for commercial space

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A team of experienced US astronauts and airmen are training in Houston for a human mission aboard the new international space station aboard Boeing's new Starliner spacecraft, which could also be used to come tourists in space.

The Boeing Starliner mission was originally scheduled for this month, but it has been delayed at least until the end of the year or until 2020 due to technical and technical problems. a reshuffle of the higher echelons of the space agency.

Boeing (PROHIBITand its rival Elon Musk SpaceX compete to become the first private company to resume human space flight from US soil after the end of the space shuttle program in 2011.

Companies with advanced technologies are among those best able to take advantage of the tremendous growth opportunities that many see in the booming commercial space industry.

NASA has for years used Russian rockets and spacecraft to transport personnel to the space station. The science and engineering laboratory, with a budget of $ 100 billion and flying about 400 km above the Earth, has had rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts since November 2000.

NASA provides SpaceX and Boeing with nearly $ 7 billion in combined rocket and capsule launch systems to transport astronauts to the space station.

NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Mike Fincke, as well as astronaut Boeing and test pilot Christopher Ferguson, who will be participating in the ISS mission, as well as other astronauts who train for future missions, have very rarely access to Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The exercises included underwater training to simulate outings in space, an emergency response aboard the space station and flight simulator docking exercises.

Here are the three astronauts who are training for the flight of the ISS.

FERGUSON LEADS MISSION

Ferguson, a former NASA astronaut and captain of the retired US Navy, who helped design the crew's relationship with the automated Boeing CST-100 Starliner, will lead his maiden voyage.

"They (Boeing) knew how big he was going to be, how he was going to be propelled, but they had not really thought about what would be inside and how would the interface between the l? crew and vehicle designed to work automatically, "said Ferguson.

The design "is an excellent compromise between keeping it minimalist while giving the pilot the ability to understand where I am, where should I be, how am I going to do it, if things go wrong, how can I I'm repairing "This amounts to monitoring the behavior of the probe," said Ferguson, who led NASA's latest space shuttle mission in 2011 and spent more than 40 days in space during his career. "We just want to make sure he's not throwing us the ball in the curves."

FIRST TRIP FOR MARINE COMBAT PILOT

It will be the first voyage in the space of Mann, a 42-year-old former Navy fighter pilot, who said he was eagerly awaiting the excitement of a new crew-based mission based in the American space among the younger generation who did not grow up looking at Apollo. and shuttle missions as their parents and grandparents did.

"And so I think it's going to be huge for Americans. It will be huge for the younger generation to see us leave the American soil, bring work and industry back to the United States.

"I think it will create a lot more jobs. This will open up a lot more innovation for this young generation. And we have a great future of spaceflight. "

FINCKE – POSITIONING THE GROUND

The Starliner mission will lay the groundwork for Boeing's commercial flight program, which includes the transportation of passengers and cargo to the space station, and the conquest of tourists, said Fincke, a NASA astronaut who has flown three flights in the United States. 'space.

"So far, about 500 people have gone into space. Hopefully in the next 10 years we will go from 500 to 5,000. And over the next 20 years, maybe 50,000 or so, "said the former army colonel of the & # 39; American air, scientific officer and flight engineer during a mission of a six-month space station.

CAPTURING THE FLAG

Eight years ago, when Ferguson was leading NASA's last space shuttle mission, he left an American flag aboard the space station so that the next crew of US astronauts could retrieve it and bring it back to the House. He likes the idea of ​​recovering it himself, traveling aboard the first inhabited American commercial spaceship.

"Kind of like an adult version of capturing the flag," said Ferguson.

And if SpaceX arrived there first?

"I would be very happy for them. Who comes home is unimportant, but the fact that he comes home is the most important. And I'd be very proud of Doug (Hurley, a NASA astronaut training to fly SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft), even if he's going to lose. "