Boeing's Crew Space Transport 100 debuts in Abu Dhabi

DUBAI: Boeing's newest space capsule that can carry up to seven crew members and will be used by NASA for its missions, made its international debut at a innovation summit in the UAE.

The Crew Space Transport ( CST)-100 spacecraft, which was designed at the Houston Product Support Centre, will carry crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit destinations such as the International Space Station ( ISS) and the planned Bigelow station.

"We are at an inflection point in the space business," said Chris Ferguson, Boeing's commercial crew director and a former NASA space shuttle commander.

"The trend is for commercial companies, like Boeing, to manage cargo and crew transport to low-Earth orbit destinations, while NASA focuses on longer-range exploration missions like sending humans to Mars," he said yesterday.

The CST-100 will launch its first uncrewed flight in early 2017 and its first crewed flight to the ISS later that year.

In an attempt to get students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, the Abu Dhabi Education Council will exhibit the CST-100 mock-up at a School in Abu Dhabi on November 9 and 10.