9 TO FLY PRIVATE U.S. SPACESHIPS
Blend of novices, veterans to take off on Boeing, SpaceX vehicles next year
THE National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) on Friday named the first nine astronauts who will fly to space on Boeing and SpaceX vehicles next year — a mix of novices and veterans who are tasked with restoring America’s ability to send humans into orbit.
These pioneering flights to the International Space Station aboard commercially-built crew capsules will be the first leaving United States soil to put people into orbit since the iconic space shuttle programme ended in 2011.
For the past seven years, Nasa astronauts have hitched rides to the orbiting outpost on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft — at a cost of some US$80 million (RM326 million) a seat.
“This is a big deal for our country and we want America to know that we are back, that we are flying American astronauts on American rockets from American soil,” Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine said as he unveiled the crew members in Houston, Texas.
An unmanned Boeing flight test was scheduled for later this year, with the first crew on board in the middle of next year, Nasa said.
For SpaceX, a demonstration flight with no passengers is set for November this year, and the first manned flight set for April next year.
Those named for the crew test flights for Boeing’s Starliner include Nasa shuttle veterans Eric Boe and Christopher Ferguson, along with Nicole Aunapu Mann, a naval aviator who was named a Nasa astronaut in 2013 and will be making her first flight to space.
US President Donald Trump also praised the news while giving himself a pat on the back: “Nasa, which is making a BIG comeback under the Trump Administration, has just named nine astronauts for Boeing and Spacex space flights,” he tweeted.
“We have the greatest facilities in the world and we are now letting the private sector pay to use them,” Trump said. “Exciting things happening.”
“Space Force!” he added, referencing a sixth branch of the military he had called for that would focus on defending US interests.
SpaceX’s first crew tests will be manned by shuttle veterans Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley.
After that, the companies move on to actual missions.
Nasa “has contracted six missions, with as many as four astronauts per mission, for each company”, the agency said.
On board Starliner’s first mission will be Nasa veteran Sunita Williams, a retired Navy captain and space shuttle astronaut, and Josh Cassada, a Navy pilot making his first flight to space.
SpaceX’s first crew will include naval aviator Victor Glover and shuttle veteran Michael Hopkins.
More astronauts will be announced to join the crews at a later date, Nasa said.
Nasa awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX in 2014 as part of its commercial crew programme, aimed at helping the private industry build spaceships to reach low-Earth orbit.