Boeing announced on Friday, Sept 4, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida that it's spacecraft formerly known as CST-100 is called now the Starliner and that it is set for blast off.
Boeing opens at Kennedy Space Center a massive facility to build spacecraft that aim to help America return to manned spaceflight. Rather than hitching expensive rides with the Russian Space Agency, NASA plans to launch its astronauts from U.S. soil again.
The Boeing's Starliner is expected to begin carrying astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) within two years. The Starliner it may also take private customers paying for low-Earth orbit trips where they can enjoy the unique sensation of sustained weightlessness.
Boeing's spacecraft is being built in a former space shuttle hanger, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The U.S. was left without a rocket carrier since the shuttle program was closed in 2011.
Starliners will fly aboard Atlas 5 rockets, from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rockets are built by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
According to space scientists from the American Space Agency, by adding the workweek of a single new crew member to the capabilities of the space station, it is possible to double the amount of research time available to astronauts in orbit, reaching about 80 hours a week.
NASA had used the Kennedy Space Center facility for 20 years for expensive testing the engines of the space shuttle and as a shuttle processing hangar. Charles Bolden, head of NASA, declared in an open letter that it is very pleased of the reopening of the Kennedy Space Center facility. He added that the U.S. government has essentially funded Moscow for several years instead of investing money into its own aerospace industry back home.
The head of NASA appealed on Friday to the American Congress that instead of relying on Russian rockets it is necessary to found more money into restoring America's ability to send astronauts into space
Bolden's open letter titled 'Don't Make Us Hitch Rides With Russia. Love, NASA.' was published in Wired magazine. In the letter the head of NASA also said that every dollar invested by the U.S. government "in Moscow is a dollar we're not investing in American businesses."
