Boeing on Monday announced it has struck a deal to lease an old NASA Space Shuttle hangar to build its new commercial crew capsule, CST-100, aiming to create 550 jobs by the time the facility is scheduled to be at full operations in 2015, a minor economic boost to an area that NASA estimates has suffered 4,000 job losses since 2009, when NASA began preparing to retire the space shuttle, according to the Associated Press.Boeing’s CST-100 is one of several proposed commercial crew spacecraft, or “space taxis,” that NASA is partially financing to replace the Space Shuttle, which flew its final mission in July. The CST-100 is being designed to carry a crew of seven into low-earth orbit, to the International Space Station and a proposed private space station from Bigelow Aerospace. Boeing also anticipates being able to take civilian tourists up into low-earth orbit on the craft no earlier than 2015.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=105068