It appears that so-called space ‘taxis’ are all the rage. SpaceX has been working on its Dragon spacecraft and now aerospace giant Boeing has announced that it too will be producing a similar craft. The spacecraft is designed to be launched atop either an Atlas V or a Delta IV (both manufactured by United Launch Alliance) or possibly even one of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. As such it would lift off from Cape Canaveral when it begins test flights currently planned for 2013 and 2014. Three of the test flights are planned to be launched from Florida’s spaceport.
Florida stands to gain from the production of these vehicles as the state is squaring off against Texas, Nevada and Alabama to help build the craft. That virtually guarantees that the Sunshine State will see a boost in jobs. Final determinations as to where work will be done are expected within the next quarter.
The potential for new jobs around Kennedy Space Center is good news. NASA is currently in a state of political limbo with the shuttle program slated to be retired next year and no program of record confirmed to take over after the orbiters are retired. The Constellation Program was to replace the shuttle however President Obama has worked to scrap the program in favor of technology development and commercial investment programs.
Boeing’s space taxi is not just being built to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station however. When built, the taxi will also fly to Bigelow Aerospace’s space station (currently under development).
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