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- (Speaker 1): Boeing is known for airplanes, but they actually have a long history in space. Since NASA's beginning, Boeing has been a contractor on every manned space program including building the parts for the International Space Station.
- Speaker 2: Boeing has been in human space flight since day one and so it's just part of our core.
- Interviewer (Speaker 1): NASA is hosting a competition for private enterprise to build the space craft to transport humans to the International Space Station. Winning this contract would cement dominance in the new space race.
- Speaker 2: We see this as just the next huge opportunity for Boeing and for NASA.
- Interviewer (Speaker 1): How big do you expect the market to be?
- Speaker 2: The development price itself is such a huge barrier, just a very different business model than Boeing's used to. Our huge development programs are typically centered around commercial airplanes, military aircraft, where there is a lot of orders. And right now the foundation of the business is two flights a year.
- Interviewer (Speaker 1): And Boeing hopes that those flights will be made in their CST 100 capsule. Their weld-less design makes their crafts stronger and lighter than traditional models.
- Interviewer (Speaker 1): I am ready to get inside this space capsule
- Speaker 2: Well, come on in!
- Interviewer (Speaker 1): Okay. How many astronauts will fly in this capsule?
- Speaker 2: Right now we configure it to fly up to five, but the CST 100 is designed for up to seven. We have a significant experience, obviously in capsules from Mercury and Gemini, Apollo . . . the capsule was an easy decision.
- Interviewer (Speaker 1): What about comfort? This isn't exactly the most comfortable position I've ever been in
- Speaker 2: No, absolutely, but because of the potential with different anomalies, you can have a very rough landing. We needed to make sure that this design would satisfy even the roughest potential landing.
- Interviewer (Speaker 1): Chris Ferguson piloted America's last shuttle and his new mission is to get Boeing's commercial space program off the ground.
- This is the simulator for the CST 1OO?
- Chris Ferguson: Yes, this is gonna be what we call our engineering simulator.
- Interviewer (Speaker 1): How similar is commanding a spaceship to piloting an airplane?
- Chris Ferguson: Well, if you sit here and look at this cockpit and you'd say "Wow, looks like I'm in a fighter airplane." Boeing has been building fighter airplanes for decades, so we were able to take a lot of the expertise and actually involve a lot of the people who designed the cockpits and make them a part of this right here.
- Interviewer (Speaker 1): Do you think that that lineage and history gives Boeing a leg up over their competitors?
- Chris Ferguson: I would like to think so and of course Boeing was the prime contractor to build the space shuttle.
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