posted 05-02-2014 10:58 AM               

Boeing Showcases Future Commercial Spacecraft Interior

Version of CST-100 capsule for non-government space customers

Boeing on Wednesday (April 30) unveiled a new commercial interior of its Crew Space Transportation (CST-100) next-generation manned space capsule, showing how people other than NASA astronauts may one day travel to space.

Boeing and partner Bigelow Aerospace highlighted the future commercial interior of the capsule it is developing for NASA, while Bigelow showcased a full-scale model of its BA 330 commercial space habitat.

"We are moving into a truly commercial space market and we have to consider our potential customers – beyond NASA – and what they need in a future commercial spacecraft interior," said Chris Ferguson, former Space Shuttle Atlantis commander and current Boeing director of Crew and Mission Operations for the Commercial Crew Program.

Engineers from across Boeing leveraged the company's decades of experience in commercial and government aerospace to design the capsule's interior.

"Boeing's teams have been designing award-winning and innovative interiors for our airplanes since the dawn of commercial aviation," said Rachelle Ornan, regional director of Sales and Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "Designing the next-generation interior for commercial space is a natural progression. A familiar daytime blue sky scene helps passengers maintain their connection with Earth."

CST-100, developed as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability initiative, is designed to transport up to seven crew members or a mix of crew and cargo to low-Earth-orbit destinations such as the International Space Station and a planned Bigelow station.

posted 05-02-2014 11:03 AM               

Boeing has seen the future of private human spaceflight, and it is blue. Sky blue, that is.

The aerospace giant on Wednesday (April 30) unveiled its new concept for the cabin of a future commercial spaceliner — a vision based in part on the blue-lit Boeing "Sky" interior of the company's modern airliners, as well as work on the company's CST-100 space capsule to ferry NASA astronauts on roundtrips to the International Space Station.

"As we find ourselves on the verge of commercial flight … we begin to think, 'What does come next? Provided there is a destination for them out there, how will that passenger want to go back and forth?'" said Chris Ferguson, a former astronaut who commanded NASA's final space shuttle mission in 2011 and now serves as Boeing's director of crew and mission operations for the commercial crew program.