Jane Edwards
Boeing has unveiled a new facility in Houston designed to allow NASA astronauts and mission control staff to train on various space flight operations through a simulator, the Houston Business Journal reported Wednesday.
The company’s Space Training, Analysis and Review facility that officially opened Tuesday is built to facilitate crew training operations for the Boeing-built CST-100 Starliner space vehicle, Joe Martin writes.
Boeing aims to launch the spacecraft in February 2018 for a crewed flight mission to the International Space Station, Martin reports.
The launch of the STAR facility comes weeks after Boeing awarded six small businesses contracts worth $200 million combined to provide engineering, information technology and other technical services in support of the former company’s work on the ISS under a contract with NASA.
John Elbon, vice president of space exploration at Boeing, said the company expects the Boeing Engineering and Technical Support Service contract to generate approximately 200 jobs.
Elbon also noted that Boeing expects its Houston team to work on future contracts, including the development of a deep space habitat, according to the report.
“We’re probably two years or so away from a procurement for that,†he added.
