Image above: Shown is the integrated model at NASA's Ames Research
Center. The model is a 7 percent model of the Boeing CST-100 spacecraft,
launch vehicle adaptor and launch vehicle. Image credit: Boeing
› View Larger Image
Image above: This artist's concept depicts the CST-100 spacecraft after separation from the Atlas V. Image credit: Boeing › View Larger Image
Image above: The CST-100 spacecraft awaits liftoff aboard an Atlas V
launch vehicle in this artist's concept. Image credit: Boeing › View Larger Image
The Boeing Company of Houston, a NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP)
partner, recently performed wind tunnel testing of its CST-100
spacecraft and integrated launch vehicle, the United Launch Alliance
(ULA) Atlas V rocket. The testing is part of NASA's Commercial Crew
Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, intended to make commercial
human spaceflight services available for government and commercial
customers. .
Boeing and ULA also worked together to test a newly developed component of the Atlas V's Centaur upper stage. Boeing now has completed two of eight performance milestones under CCiCap and is on track to have completed all 19 of its milestones around mid-2014.
"The Centaur has a long and storied past of launching the agency's most
successful spacecraft to other worlds," said Ed Mango, NASA's CCP
manager at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "Because it has
never been used for human spaceflight before, these tests are critical
to ensuring a smooth and safe performance for the crew members who will
be riding atop the human-rated Atlas V."
The wind tunnel testing, which began in March and wrapped up in May at
NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., were the first
interface tests of Boeing's spacecraft, launch vehicle adaptor and
launch vehicle. A scale model of the integrated spacecraft and rocket
was placed in Ames' 11-foot diameter transonic wind tunnel. The data
gathered provides Boeing with critical information it needs to ensure
its system is safe for launching crews to low-Earth orbit.
The Centaur liquid oxygen-feed duct line was tested in March in
Murrieta, Calif., to characterize how liquid oxygen moves from the
stage's oxygen tank to its two engines where the propellant will be
mixed with liquid hydrogen to create thrust. The Centaur, which takes
over after the Atlas V first stage runs low on propellants, will push
the spacecraft to its intended orbit. The Centaur has an extensive and
successful history of delivering spacecraft to their destinations,
including carrying NASA's Curiosity science rover to Mars.
"The CST-100 and Atlas V, connected with the launch vehicle adaptor,
performed exactly as expected and confirmed our expectations of how they
will perform together in flight," said John Mulholland, Boeing vice
president and program manager for Commercial Programs.
Boeing is one of three U.S. companies NASA is working with during CCiCap
to set the stage for a crewed orbital demonstration mission around the
middle of the decade. Future development and certification initiatives
eventually will lead to the availability of human spaceflight services
for NASA to send astronauts to the International Space Station from the
United States.
For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program and its aerospace industry partners, visit:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmial.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
Image
above: Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V
rocket stands ready for liftoff in this artist's concept. Image credit:
Boeing
