NASA has approved the completion of Boeing's first milestone in the company's path towards launching crews to the International Space Station (ISS) from the US.
The Certification Baseline Review is the first of many more milestones, including flight tests from Florida's Space Coast that will establish the basis for certifying Boeing's human space transportation system to carry NASA astronauts to the space station.
The review established a baseline design of the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft, United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, and associated ground and mission operations systems.
"The work done now is crucial to each of the future steps in the path to certification, including a flight test to the International Space Station," said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Programme.
"This first milestone establishes an expected operating rhythm for NASA and Boeing to meet our certification goal," said Lueders.
On September 16, the agency unveiled its selection of Boeing and SpaceX to transport US crews to and from the space station using their CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively.
The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract will provide US missions to the station, ending the nation's sole reliance on Russia and allowing the station's current crew of six to grow, enabling more research aboard the unique micro-gravity laboratory.
The CCtCap contracts are designed for the companies to complete NASA certification of their human space transportation systems, including a crewed flight test with at least one NASA astronaut aboard to verify the fully integrated rocket and spacecraft system can launch from the US, manoeuvre in orbit, and dock to the space station, as well as validate all its systems perform as expected.
Once the test programme has been completed successfully and the systems achieve NASA certification, the contractors will conduct at least two, and as many as six, crewed missions to the space station. The spacecraft also will serve as a lifeboat for astronauts aboard the station.
During the review, Boeing provided NASA with a roadmap toward certification, including its baseline design, concept of operations and management and insight plans.
The Boeing team also detailed how the CST-100 would connect with the station and how it plans to train NASA astronauts to fly the CST-100 in orbit.
"It's important for us to set a robust plan for achieving certification upfront. It's crucial for us to achieve our 2017 goal, and the plan we've put in place will get us there," said Boeing Commercial Crew Programme Manager John Mulholland.
