CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Five years after Atlantis completed the space shuttle program’s final voyage, NASA is still at least a year away from launching its astronauts from U.S. soil.
When Atlantis returned to Earth on July 21, 2011, everyone knew there would be a gap. But the pilots who guided Atlantis to one last “wheels stop” are doing all they can to hurry up the future from different teams.
One works for Boeing on the company’s Starliner crew capsule under development. The other is one of four NASA astronauts training for the initial test flights.
This switch from government to commercial rocketships promises to usher in a whole new era, according to Atlantis’ commander Christopher Ferguson.
Think space tourists, orbiting factories, lunar camps and private Mars labs.
“We’re on the verge of commercially taking people back and forth to low-Earth orbit. This is practically unheard of,” Ferguson said.
He now works for Boeing, one of two private companies coming up with new capsules to carry astronauts. Boeing’s Starliner is set to sail to the International Space Station in early 2018.
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule is scheduled to launch by the end of next year.
Ever since shuttles Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour retired to museums, Americans have been stuck riding Russian rockets to the space station. NASA has been relying on SpaceX and Orbital ATK to keep the station supplied. The latest cargo Dragon arrived Wednesday. Its primary payload: a docking port needed for the crew-worthy Dragon and Starliner.
Commercial space stations likely will replace the multination space station, Ferguson noted.
“So we’re sort of setting the stage for commercial habitation of low-Earth orbit — all with the intent of going beyond,” he said.
