Boeing has chosen the Atlas V as the launch vehicle for its CST-100, the space craft it is developing under NASA's commercial crew program. The Atlas V is manufactured by Lockheed Martin and is marketed by United Launch Alliance.
United Launch Alliance is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin and markets a variety of launch vehicles.
The Atlas V is a family of launch vehicles that has been operational since 2002 and has had more than two dozen successful launches. Atlas V has not been used to launch a manned space ship before and will have to undergo a number of NASA mandated modifications to "human rate" the launch vehicle.
The CST-100 is a capsule shaped spacecraft that is designed to carry up to seven passengers and crew to low Earth orbit. Boeing's literature on the CST-100 suggests that no new technology is being developed for the spacecraft, but rather it will represent an integration of existing technologies developed since the Apollo program. The CST-100 will have 48 hours autonomous on orbit capability. It will be able to dock with the International Space Station eight hours after launch and land on Earth six hours after undocking from the ISS. The spacecraft will be able to make a landing on land, but will also be able to splash down in the ocean as a contingency capability.
The test schedule for the CST-100 includes the first manned space flight in the middle of 2014 with a crew of two. Boeing hopes to have the CST-100/Atlas vehicle ready to service the International Space Station by the middle of 2015.
Naturally the plans and schedule for the Boeing effort, as with the competing SpaceX Dragon, is largely dependent on funding. The House of Representatives has cut funding for the commercial crew effort from a request of $800 million to $300 million. The Senate has not moved on NASA funding.
Furthermore, the debt ceiling process, which includes a 12 person congressional committee attempting to agree on budget cuts, is another threat to commercial crew funding. If the committee cannot agree on targeted budget cuts, the federal budget will be cut across the board.
Boeing is hoping to develop private markets for the CST-100, including space tourism, and servicing a planned private space station being developed by Bigelow Aerospace. However it is the company's position that these markets are too tenuous to risk money on,lacking government subsidies being paid out in the commercial crew program. Thus, if the commercial crew program is cut, there may be a reevaluation of the entire CST-100 program.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly.
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