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Test Flight Astronauts For Boeing And SpaceX Capsules to be Announced in August

On Friday, August 3, NASA will announce the names of the astronauts which will climb aboard the space capsules developed by Boeing and SpaceX for the first crewed flight tests and missions.
SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing CST-100 capsules 1 photo
Photo: NASA
This important announcement will mark a major step towards returning American space exploration to its former glory. Ever since the retiring of the space shuttles in 2011, there hasn’t been a single crewed launch from American soil in an American rocket.

The crews of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon will be presented on NASA Television and the agency’s website by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, Johnson Space Center Director Mark Geyer and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana.

“NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is working with the American aerospace industry as companies develop and operate a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems designed to carry crews safely to and from low-Earth orbit,” NASA said in a statement.

“Commercial transportation to and from the space station will enable expanded station use, additional research time and broader opportunities of discovery aboard the orbiting laboratory.”

Boeing’s proposal for a space capsule, the Crew Space Transportation (CST), has a diameter of 4.56 meters (15.0 ft), bigger than the Apollo used in the early days of space exploration. It has been designed in such a way that it accommodates a crew of up to seven astronauts, five when also carrying cargo.

It is compatible with a wide range of launch rockets, including SpaceX’s Falcon, the Atlas V, Delta IV and the future Vulcan. The first uncrewed flight of the capsule is expected to take place later in the summer of 2018.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, a variant of the capsule currently carrying supplies to the ISS, will be capable of carrying up to seven astronauts seated in carbon fiber seats wrapped in Alcantara cloth.

The capsule would be fully autonomous and would relay real-time information on the state of the spacecraft’s capabilities directly to the humans onboard.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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