Boeing to launch its 'space taxi' from Space Shuttle's old hangar



Boeing has announced that it is to launch its CST-100 'space taxi' from the Orbiter Processing Facility used by the Space Shuttle at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida .

The company's CST-100 spacecraft can carry up to seven passengers to destinations such as the International Space Station.



Boeing hopes the craft will be in orbit within four years - and start a new era of cheap, manned, commercial space flight.



Boeing's CST-100 capsule will be launched from the Kennedy Space Centre

Boeing hopes that the CST-100 module will be lifted into orbit by one of its Atlas V rockets

NASA is counting on companies like Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and others to ferry cargo and astronauts to and from the International Space Station in three to five years.



Until then, the space agency will continue to shell out tens of millions of dollars per seat on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The Soyuz is the only way to get astronauts to and from the space station, ever since Atlantis returned from the final shuttle flight in July.



A Soyuz rocket failure in August highlighted the risk of relying on just one type of craft.

Boeing expects to start removing shuttle platforms and modifying the hangar to suit its own purposes in the next few months.

John Mulholland, vice president and program manager of commercial programs for Boeing, said it will be sad to see all the shuttle equipment go.

The CST-100 capsule can seat up to seven astronauts, and is designed to carry people into low Earth orbit to destinations such as the International Space Station

'The shuttle’s such an iconic vehicle. These marvelous buildings have a lot of memory,' said Mulholland, a former shuttle manager. 'But you’ve always got to be looking forward.'

Boeing wants to ferry astronauts not only to the International Space Station, but to a commercial scientific outpost planned for orbit by Bigelow Aerospace. Each capsule will hold seven people. A test flight is planned by 2015.

The hangar is 197 feet (60 meters) long, 1,650 feet (500 meters) wide and 95 feet (30 meters) high. It was last used to ready the shuttle Discovery for its final launch earlier this year.

Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on its last mission from Kennedy Space Center. NASA now hopes the site will be used by private space companies





NASA wants to turn the space center - long a government-only local - into a multi-user spaceport. Other buildings are also up for grabs. Space Florida, a state agency, is working on more deals.

Tourists, meanwhile, are about to gain entry into areas that were once strictly off limits.

On Tuesday, the Vehicle Assembly Building - where fuel tanks and booster rockets were attached to space shuttles - will open its doors to public bus tours for the first time since 1978.

The CST-100 module is designed to carry passengers into low earth orbit - to destinations such as the International Space Station