NASA Commercial Crew Partner Boeing Completes New Spacecraft, Rocket Milestones

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May 31, 2013

Candrea Thomas
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
candrea.k.thomas@nasa.gov

Trent J. Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov

Kelly George
The Boeing Company Space Exploration, Houston
256-226-4367
kelly.george@boeing.com

RELEASE: 13-166

NASA COMMERCIAL CREW PARTNER BOEING COMPLETES NEW SPACECRAFT, ROCKET MILESTONES

HOUSTON -- The Boeing Company of Houston, a NASA Commercial Crew 
Program (CCP) partner, recently performed wind tunnel testing of its 
CST-100 spacecraft and integrated launch vehicle, the United Launch 
Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. The testing is part of NASA's 
Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, intended 
to make commercial human spaceflight services available for 
government and commercial customers.

Boeing and ULA also worked together to test a newly developed 
component of the Atlas V's Centaur upper stage. Boeing now has 
completed two of eight performance milestones under CCiCap and is on 
track to complete all 19 of its milestones around mid-2014.

"The Centaur has a long and storied past of launching the agency's 
most successful spacecraft to other worlds," said Ed Mango, NASA's 
CCP manager at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "Because 
it has never been used for human spaceflight before, these tests are 
critical to ensuring a smooth and safe performance for the crew 
members who will be riding atop the human-rated Atlas V."

The wind tunnel tests, which began in March and wrapped up in May at 
NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., were the first 
interface tests of Boeing's spacecraft, launch vehicle adaptor and 
launch vehicle. A scale model of the integrated spacecraft and rocket 
was placed in Ames' 11-foot diameter transonic wind tunnel. The data 
gathered provides Boeing with critical information it needs to ensure 
its system is safe for launching crews to low-Earth orbit.

The Centaur liquid oxygen-feed duct line was tested in March in 
Murrieta, Calif., to characterize how liquid oxygen moves from the 
stage's oxygen tank to its two engines where the propellant will be 
mixed with liquid hydrogen to create thrust. The Centaur, which takes 
over after the Atlas V first stage runs low on propellants, will push 
the spacecraft to its intended orbit. The Centaur has an extensive 
and successful history of delivering spacecraft to their 
destinations, including carrying NASA's Curiosity science rover to 
Mars.

"The CST-100 and Atlas V, connected with the launch vehicle adaptor, 
performed exactly as expected and confirmed our expectations of how 
they will perform together in flight," said John Mulholland, Boeing 
vice president and program manager for Commercial Programs.

Boeing is one of three U.S. companies NASA is working with during 
CCiCap to set the stage for a crewed orbital demonstration mission 
around the middle of the decade. Future development and certification 
initiatives eventually will lead to the availability of human 
spaceflight services for NASA to send astronauts to the International 
Space Station from the United States.

For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program and its 
aerospace industry partners, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew 

	
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