Scientists atNASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have simulated the collision of two ultra-dense neutron stars, which tear each other apart and ultimately form a black hole.

An amazing new NASA video shows two super-dense neutron stars tearing each other apart in a cataclysmic cosmic merger that ultimately forms a black hole.

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The neutron star collision video, which wasproduced by scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, is a supercomputer simulation. It starts off with two neutron stars the city-size, dense remnants of a violent supernova explosion separated by about 11 miles (18 kilometers), NASA officials said. One object contains about 1.7 times the mass of our sun, while the other weighs in at 1.4 solar masses.

The two neutron stars spiral toward each other, deforming. As they get closer and closer to each other, the bigger stellar remnant crushes the smaller one, causing it to erupt and form a spiral arm around the larger neutron star, according to NASA. [The Top 10 Star Mysteries]

"At 13 milliseconds, the more massive star has accumulated too much mass to support it against gravity and collapses, and a newblack holeis born," NASA officials said in a statement. "The black hole's event horizon its point of no return is shown by the gray sphere. While most of the matter from both neutron stars will fall into the black hole, some of the less-dense, faster-moving matter manages to orbit around it, quickly forming a large and rapidly rotating torus."

Neutron stars form when a star that is eight to 30 times the mass of the sun explodes as a supernova, leaving behind the compressed, dense core. One cubic centimeter (0.06 cubic inches) of neutron star matter outweighs Mount Everest, NASA officials said.

In 2013, scientists found that mergers of neutron stars could create the gold in the universe.A group of astronomers, led by Edo Berger of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, discovered that the collisions of neutron stars could eject as much as 10 moon masses' worth of gold.

Scientists think that the violent cosmic mergers ofneutron starscan also produce short gamma-ray bursts, which last about two seconds and unleash as much energy as all the stars in the Milky Way produce in more than a year, according to NASA.

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Spectacular NASA video shows neutron stars colliding

Scientists atNASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have simulated the collision of two ultra-dense neutron stars, which tear each other apart and ultimately form a black hole.

An amazing new NASA video shows two super-dense neutron stars tearing each other apart in a cataclysmic cosmic merger that ultimately forms a black hole.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

The neutron star collision video, which wasproduced by scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, is a supercomputer simulation. It starts off with two neutron stars the city-size, dense remnants of a violent supernova explosion separated by about 11 miles (18 kilometers), NASA officials said. One object contains about 1.7 times the mass of our sun, while the other weighs in at 1.4 solar masses.

The two neutron stars spiral toward each other, deforming. As they get closer and closer to each other, the bigger stellar remnant crushes the smaller one, causing it to erupt and form a spiral arm around the larger neutron star, according to NASA. [The Top 10 Star Mysteries]

"At 13 milliseconds, the more massive star has accumulated too much mass to support it against gravity and collapses, and a newblack holeis born," NASA officials said in a statement. "The black hole's event horizon its point of no return is shown by the gray sphere. While most of the matter from both neutron stars will fall into the black hole, some of the less-dense, faster-moving matter manages to orbit around it, quickly forming a large and rapidly rotating torus."

Neutron stars form when a star that is eight to 30 times the mass of the sun explodes as a supernova, leaving behind the compressed, dense core. One cubic centimeter (0.06 cubic inches) of neutron star matter outweighs Mount Everest, NASA officials said.

In 2013, scientists found that mergers of neutron stars could create the gold in the universe.A group of astronomers, led by Edo Berger of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, discovered that the collisions of neutron stars could eject as much as 10 moon masses' worth of gold.

Scientists think that the violent cosmic mergers ofneutron starscan also produce short gamma-ray bursts, which last about two seconds and unleash as much energy as all the stars in the Milky Way produce in more than a year, according to NASA.

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Spectacular NASA video shows neutron stars colliding (+video)

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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden poses with the agencys Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft, mission personnel, Goddard Center Director Chris Scolese and NASA Associate Administrator John Grunsfeld, during visit to the cleanroom at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., on May 12, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com

NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER, MD NASAs upcoming Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission is comprised of a quartet of identically instrumented observatories aimed at providing the first three-dimensional views of a fundamental process in nature known as magnetic reconnection. They were unveiled to greet NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Monday, May 12, in a rare fully stacked arrangement inside the Goddard clean room.

Universe Today was on hand with NASA Administrator Bolden, Science Chief John Grunsfeld and the MMS mission team at Goddard for a first hand inspection and up close look at the 20 foot tall, four spacecraft stacked configuration in the cleanroom and for interviews about the projects fundamental science goals.

Im visiting with the MMS team today to find out the status of this mission scheduled to launch early in 2015. Its one of many projects here at Goddard, NASA Administrator Bolden told me in an exclusive one-on-one interview at the MMS cleanroom.

MMS will help us study the phenomena known as magnetic reconnection and help us understand how energy from the sun magnetic and otherwise affects our own life here on Earth. MMS will study what effects that process and how the magnetosphere protects Earth.

Magnetic reconnection is the process whereby magnetic fields around Earth connect and disconnect while explosively releasing vast amounts of energy.

Technicians work on NASAs 20-foot-tall Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mated quartet of stacked observatories in the cleanroom at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., on May 12, 2014. Credit: Ken Kremer- kenkremer.com

MMS measurements should lead to significant improvements in models for yielding better predictions of space weather and thereby the resulting impacts on life of Earth as well as satellite explorers in orbit and the heavens beyond.

The four identical spacecraft which are still undergoing testing were stacked in a rarely seen launch arrangement known affectionately as the IHOP configuration because they look like a stack of luscious pancakes.

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NASAs Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission to Provide 1st 3-D View of Earths Magnetic Reconnection Process Cleanroom ...

CAPTIONS

The Mercury 7 NASA introduced the Project Mercury Astronauts to the world on April 9, 1959, only six months after the agency was established. Known as the Mercury 7 or Original 7, they are: front row, left to right, Walter H. "Wally" Schirra, Jr., Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and Scott Carpenter; back row, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper. (Courtesy of NASA Langley /April 9, 1959)

HAMPTON

When America's first astronauts arrived at newly renamed NASA Langley Research Center in the spring of 1959, they knew they were going to make history in outer space.

But not until 55 years ago this week did the scientists and engineers of Langley's Space Task Group lay out the kind of training that would teach the pioneers of Project Mercury how to do it.

Astronauts John Glenn, left, and Scott Carpenter inspect a Mercury capsule at NASA Langley Research Center shortly after beginning their training there in the spring of 1959. (Courtesy of NASA Langley/Claude Patterson / May 14, 2014)

Selected on April 2, 1959 -- and presented to the public on April 9 -- the corps of seven military test pilots began their work at Langley on April 27, meeting the team assembled by STG director and Hampton resident Robert R. "Bob" Gilruth to determine if humans could survive the forces of lift-off and orbit in space.

Two weeks passed as they familiarized themselves with the previous research done by the members of the center's relatively small Pilotless Aircraft Research Division, which along with Gilruth had been reassigned to concentrate on the task of human space flight.

The project's goal was to put a man into space using known rocket and missile technologies, "extending the state of the art as little as necessary," NASA officials explained.

But that didn't mean the astronauts and an increasingly large number of Langley-based designers, technicians and engineers wouldn't need an immense amount of preparation and training before they could carry out their mission.

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Pictures: The Project Mercury space program lifts off at NASA Langley | Our Story

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for Arianespace's next resupply mission to the International Space Station is standing tall at the Spaceport as preparations continue for its heavy-lift Ariane 5 launch on Flight VA219.

This week's activity in French Guiana included stacking of the ATV's two primary components - its Integrated Cargo Carrier and the Service Module - completing the build-up process and readying the resupply spacecraft for final checkout ahead of its subsequent integration on Ariane 5.

With these two elements now mated, the Automated Transfer Vehicle is at its full overall height of 10.7 meters. The ATV's mating followed completion of the first phase of cargo loading into the Integrated Cargo Carrier, which took place in the Spaceport's S5 payload preparation facility.

This fifth and final European ATV - designated Georges Lemaitre after the Belgian physicist and father of the Big Bang theory - is to resupply the International Space Station, as well as perform maneuvers to maintain the facility's nominal orbit and test new rendezvous sensors in space. In addition to the fuel and air it will carry to the crewed space station, ATV Georges Lemaitre will deliver more than 2,600 kg. of dry cargo.

The ATV program is part of Europe's contribution to the International Space Station's operation, and is managed by the European Space Agency. Prime contractor is Airbus Defence and Space, which leads a European industry team. Airbus Defence and Space also is industrial architect for the Ariane 5.

Arianespace will loft ATV Georges Lemaitre as part of its record manifest planned in 2014. This mission is designated Flight VA219 in the company's numbering system, signifying what will be the 219th launch of an Ariane 5 family vehicle.

All ATVs have been orbited by Ariane 5 launchers, beginning with "Jules Verne" in March 2008, and followed by "Johannes Kepler" in February 2011, the "Edoardo Amaldi" in March 2012, and last June's flight with "Albert Einstein."

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Final ATV assembled for Arianespace Ariane 5 launch

A Japanese astronaut, a veteran Russian cosmonaut and a NASA flight engineer prepared their Soyuz ferry craft for departure from the International Space Station Tuesday, setting their sights on a fiery plunge back to Earth to close out a 188-day stay in space.

Koichi Wakata, Mikhail Tyurin and Rick Mastracchio are set for landing after a 188-day expedition on the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA The international crew's return aboard a Russian spacecraft was the first such flight since Russia's annexation of Crimea, the imposition of U.S. and European sanctions and escalating Cold War rhetoric that stands in stark contrast to the close cooperation that has been the hallmark of the International Space Station program.

In the latest space-related tit for tat, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's deputy prime minister for space and defense, told Russian news agencies future sales of RD-180 engines, which power the first stage of United Launch Alliances Atlas 5 rocket, will not be permitted for launches of U.S. military payloads.

The Atlas 5 is routinely used for Pentagon missions and its reliance on Russian engines has come under fire in the wake of the Ukraine crisis. ULA competitor SpaceX has argued that payments for the RD-180 violate Obama Administration sanctions, but a temporary injunction was lifted last week based on assurances by the departments of Treasury, State and Justice that the sales were compliant.

In any case, ULA officials say the company has a two-year supply of RD-180s in hand and it's not yet known what impact Rogozin's statements might have down the road.

Both sides say the station program is not affected by sanctions or other diplomatic hurdles and the Russians continue to honor their lucrative contract with NASA to carry U.S. and partner astronauts to and from the space station aboard Soyuz spacecraft at more than $70 million a seat.

The Soyuz landing and another Soyuz launch later this month to carry three fresh crew members to the orbital complex highlight NASA's lack of an operational crew-carrying spacecraft of its own and the agency's dependence on the Russians for basic space transportation until at least 2017, when a U.S. ferry craft should be ready for service.

That assumes the program receives the necessary funding from Congress and the station program continues to operate smoothly, with the full cooperation of all the international partners. The station cannot be safely operated by either side without the other.

The station crew flies 260 miles above the complex geopolitical landscape and from their perspective, the Ukraine crisis has had no impact on day-to-day operations. Entry preparations have proceeded normally, the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft has been checked out and the stage is set for three members of the station's six-man crew to return to Earth.

With commander Mikhail Tyurin at the controls, flanked on the left by flight engineer Rick Mastracchio and on the right by outgoing Expedition 39 commander Koichi Wakata, the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft was scheduled to undock from the Russian Rassvet module at 6:36 p.m. EDT (GMT-4).

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Space station crew ready for return to Earth

Moment of truth nears for sleepy New Mexico town on cusp of space flight
Subscribe: http://smarturl.it/reuterssubscribe Truth or Consequences, New Mexico is typical of many small towns across America, where main streets, store fronts and lifestyles seem trapped...

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Moment of truth nears for sleepy New Mexico town on cusp of space flight - Video

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper will participate in two events at this months 30th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. The Space Foundations Space Symposium is an international space conference to be held May 19-22 at The Broadmoor.

At 11:40 a.m. on May 20, the Governor plans to sign a bill in the Symposiums Boeing Exhibit Center at the Colorado Space Coalition booth (#124). The bill is HB14-1178 "Sales and Use Tax Exemption for Space Flight Property" by Representatives Mark Ferrandino and Brian DelGrosso and Senators Mary Hodge and Kevin Grantham.

The Governor will also speak at the Symposiums Space Warfighters Luncheon on May 20, to be held at The Broadmoors Colorado Hall beginning at 12:15.

Featured speaker at the luncheon will be Lt. Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond, USAF, Commander, 14th Air Force (Air Forces Strategic), Air Force Space Command; and Commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space, U.S. Strategic Command, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

The Space Warfighters Luncheon is held annually during the Space Symposium to honor the men and women who serve in the military around the world, and highlights the role space assets play in providing security and solutions for keeping troops safe, informed and effective. The luncheon is co-sponsored by United Launch Alliance (ULA), with corporate host Michael C. Gass, President and Chief Executive Officer, ULA.

Gov. Hickenlooper, a self-described "recovering geologist now on loan to public service," was elected Colorado Governor in 2010, after serving eight years as Mayor of Denver.

Reporters who plan to cover the event must register in advance for Symposium security clearance and pick up a media badge on site in the media center in Broadmoor Hall. Media should register now at http://www.spacesymposium.org/media.

See the complete agenda and list of Space Symposium speakers at http://www.SpaceSymposium.org.

About the Space Foundation Founded in 1983, the Space Foundation is the foremost advocate for all sectors of space, and is a global, nonprofit leader in space awareness activities, educational programs and major industry events, including the annual Space Symposium, all in support of its mission "to advance space-related endeavors to inspire, enable and propel humanity." Space Foundation World Headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., features a public Discovery Center including the El Pomar Space Gallery and the Northrop Grumman Science Center featuring Science On a Sphere, and is a member of the American Alliance of Museums. The Space Foundation has a field office in Houston, and from its Washington, D.C., office, conducts government affairs, publishes The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity and provides three indexes that track daily U.S. stock market performance of the space industry. Through its Space Certification and Space Technology Hall of Fame programs, the Space Foundation recognizes space-based technologies and innovations that have been adapted to improve life on Earth. Visit http://www.SpaceFoundation.org, follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter, and read our e-newsletter Space Watch.

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Gov. Hickenlooper to Speak at 30th Space Symposium Luncheon and Sign Space Flight Bill

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER -

Buzzing like a mechanical insect, the black Hexcopter used its six whirring propellers to hover and zoom above a grassy field, providing emergency officials a set of airborne optical and infrared eyeballs.

"He's flying over this disaster site here to the west, taking a look. He's seeing a body lying on the ground, a bicycle and the potential for hazmat. So he's videotaping all that," explained Justin Dee, an operator with Prioria Robotics, the Gainesville firm that developed the drone.

Mission accomplished, the 14-pound, 46-inch wide Hexcopter slowly settled onto the grass near Dee's tent, landing in autopilot mode after a successful exhibition flight.

Sunday, 10 robotics teams showed off the capabilities of their unmanned aircraft during a series of demonstration flights at Exploration Park, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported. Sponsored by Space Florida, the event kicked off the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International trade show, which continues through Thursday at the Orange County Convention Center.

AUVSI predicts that the drone industry will create nearly 104,000 jobs nationwide by 2025, assuming that the Federal Aviation Administration integrates unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system. Projected economic impact is more than $82 billion from 2015-25.

"The past history of drones has been all military defense kind of stuff. Now, they're looking at getting into precision agriculture. Japan's been using the Yamaha helicopter to cropdust crops for years," said Joe Brannan, director of AUVSI's Florida Peninsula chapter.

"They can find the diseased (orange) trees so the farmer can go cut those out and not affect the rest of his trees. You can use them to count manatees, gators, wildlife. You can use them for forest fire spotting. You can use them to find lost people," Brannan said.

"Then, of course, you've got what shows up in the press about Amazon wanting to deliver packages with it. The commercial applications are out there, just waiting for an industry to get started. The biggest issue, of course, is getting the airspace," he said.

In March, a US Airways jet nearly collided with a camouflage-painted drone above Tallahassee Regional Airport.

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Drones take flight near Kennedy Space Center

The 63-year-old businessman was speaking to Nick Grimshaw during the Q&A ahead of Radio 1's Big Weekend

Sir Richard Branson has admitted he has problems with his plans to blast into space - but insisted he is very close to launching his Virgin Galactic programme.

The 63-year-old businessman was speaking to students in a Q&A when he tried to play down the delays.

Building a space ship and a mother ship is taking us longer than we thought but we are very close to being up up and away, he insisted.

He then told the audience that lots of them would be able to travel cheaply in space before they died.

He added: We have brought the price down, it you go up with the Russians it costs $40million so we have brought that down to a couple of hundred thousand dollars which is still a fortune.

"But the 800 people that have signed up will be pioneers and will in time enable us to get the price down and down and down.

I a hopeful that most people in this room in their lifetime should have an opportunity to become astronauts.

We are going to have to build a lot more spaceships to accommodate them but I think hopefully a good percentage of you will have a chance to go into space or be able to afford it.

That is our challenge and we will do our best to deliver.

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Sir Richard Branson reveals launch of space adventure Virgin Galactic is "very close"

What do you get when you combine brilliant space scientists with musical instruments? Why, an International Space Opera, of course.

The International Space Orchestra (ISO) is the brainchild of French director Nelly Ben Hayoun, who has the colorful title "designer of experiences" at theSETI Institute(short for Search for Extraterrestrial Life) in Mountain View, Calif.

"If you want to engage the public with [space science], you can't really do that with a poster," Ben Hayoun told an audience at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas in March.

In the summer of 2012, Ben Hayoun assembled the orchestra using scientists from the NASA Ames Research Center, SETI Institute, Singularity University and the International Space University joined forces. They performed "Ground Control: An Opera in Space," a 27-minuted musical extravaganza that reenacted the drama of NASA's mission control during theApollo 11 moon landingin 1969.

Ben Hayoun directed and produced the space opera, which features NASA Flight Director for the LCROSS and LADEE moon missions Rusty Hunt playing baritone saxophone, NASA Ames Deputy Director Lewis Braxton on the gong and NASA astronaut Yvonne Cagle on percussion.

The ISO had their first performance in front of the world's largest wind tunnel at NASA Ames on Sept. 6, 2012. Their second performance took place in San Jose during the ZERO1 Biennial, a showcase of work at the nexus of art and technology.

The scientists were joined by musical talent Damon Albarn, frontman for the bands Blur and Gorillaz, singer-songwriter Bobby Womack and the famous Japanese art group Maywa Denki, with original music by the band Penguin Caf's Arthur Jeffes and lyrics by science fiction author Bruce Sterling and writer Jasmina Tesanovic.

Later, Ben Hayoun made a feature film about the orchestra, because otherwise, "nobody would believe that it happened," she said. She filmed the space opera at George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch, where "Star Wars" was developed.

In January 2013, the film premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and launched a world tour.

"They're never going to be the philharmonic, but that's not the point," one person interviewed in the film observed.

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How NASA Scientists Created an International Space Orchestra

Flight Museum Micro Jet
http://www.FirstClassDallas.com Video Website for Restaurants, Shops More! Frontiers of Flight Museum 6911 Lemmon Avenue Dallas, Texas 75209 Telephone 214.350.3600 Hours Monday - Saturday 10:00...

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Tiger Moth Flight Museum
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Frontiers of Flight Museum
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Corporate Meetings, Birthday Celebrations, Reunions More! at Flight Museum
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Star Citizen Space Flight Physics
Star Citizen space flight physics and tactics discussion pre Dog Fight Module. It seems like a huge portion of the community wants ultra realistic flight physics, and another portion wants...

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Star Citizen Space Flight Physics - Video

Among their ranks was Cheryl Howard, the actress whose husband Ron took several zero gravity flights when he was directing the film Apollo 13. On this day, however, Mr Howard had just come along to support his wife before the flight and would be remaining with his feet firmly on Earth.

Astronauts of course conduct their work in a zero gravity environment thousands of miles up in space.

But for $4,950 (2,939), the same sensation can by yours on the Zero Gravity Corporations (ZERO-G) G-FORCE ONE, a modified jet whose pilots induce weightlessness through a series of mid-air manoeuvres called parabolas.

Nasa puts its astronauts through a much more rigorous version of the same flights as part of their training, deliberately pushing participants to the stage of nausea in what has been colourfully nicknamed the vomit comet.

That detail was causing some preflight nerves, even though ZERO-Gs president Terese Brewster and her team of instructors assured us that we would not be subjected to anything as intense, during our briefing at an airport hotel.

As someone who long ago swore never to ride another rollercoaster and has often felt nauseous on boats, the prospect of motion sickness still worried me as I prepared boldly to go where few have gone before.

But within an hour, I was indeed floating, without any stomach churning discomfort, in the remarkable world of zero gravity as we repeatedly dived 12,000 feet before then being pinned to the matted floor by the gravitational force (G force) when we accelerated back up to the top of the arc.

Philip Sherwell enjoying some "blissful exhilaration" (STEVE BOXALL/ZERO-G)

Around me, my fellow passengers were pirouetting and somersaulting, not to mention delivering passable impressions of Superman flying through the air, arm punched out ahead.

In my case, it felt that I was tumbling and flailing rather than executing elegant acrobatic turns, but the experience was still one of blissful exhilaration as we shared an experience known only by a tiny fraction of the worlds population.

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Space tourists on Virgin Galactic's 'vomit comet': incredible flight to weightless world of space travel

Among their ranks was Cheryl Howard, the actress whose husband Ron took several zero gravity flights when he was directing the film Apollo 13. On this day, however, Mr Howard had just come along to support his wife before the flight and would be remaining with his feet firmly on Earth.

Astronauts of course conduct their work in a zero gravity environment thousands of miles up in space.

But for $4,950 (2,939), the same sensation can by yours on the Zero Gravity Corporations (ZERO-G) G-FORCE ONE, a modified jet whose pilots induce weightlessness through a series of mid-air manoeuvres called parabolas.

Nasa puts its astronauts through a much more rigorous version of the same flights as part of their training, deliberately pushing participants to the stage of nausea in what has been colourfully nicknamed the vomit comet.

That detail was causing some preflight nerves, even though ZERO-Gs president Terese Brewster and her team of instructors assured us that we would not be subjected to anything as intense, during our briefing at an airport hotel.

As someone who long ago swore never to ride another rollercoaster and has often felt nauseous on boats, the prospect of motion sickness still worried me as I prepared boldly to go where few have gone before.

But within an hour, I was indeed floating, without any stomach churning discomfort, in the remarkable world of zero gravity as we repeatedly dived 12,000 feet before then being pinned to the matted floor by the gravitational force (G force) when we accelerated back up to the top of the arc.

Philip Sherwell enjoying some "blissful exhilaration" (STEVE BOXALL/ZERO-G)

Around me, my fellow passengers were pirouetting and somersaulting, not to mention delivering passable impressions of Superman flying through the air, arm punched out ahead.

In my case, it felt that I was tumbling and flailing rather than executing elegant acrobatic turns, but the experience was still one of blissful exhilaration as we shared an experience known only by a tiny fraction of the worlds population.

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Space tourists on Zero-G's 'vomit comet': incredible flight to weightless world of space travel

Late Night Inspiration - Take 2: Space Flight - TheJournalisticBrony
Want to hear more music. Subscribe to my channel for more videos. I try to post weekly. So, this is sounds a bit like a space flight, except in India. So, th...

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Late Night Inspiration - Take 2: Space Flight - TheJournalisticBrony - Video

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Chris Ferguson, last Space Shuttle Atlantis commander, tests the Boeing CST-100 capsule consoles which can fly US astronauts to the International Space Station in 2017. Ferguson is now Boeings director of Crew and Mission Operations for the Commercial Crew Program vying for NASA funding. Credit: NASA/Boeing

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL Boeing expects to launch the first unmanned test flight of their commercial CST-100 manned space taxi in early 2017, said Chris Ferguson, commander of NASAs final shuttle flight in an exclusive one-on-one interview with Universe Today for an inside look at Boeings space efforts. Ferguson is now spearheading Boeings human spaceflight capsule project as director of Crew and Mission Operations.

The first unmanned orbital test flight is planned in January 2017 and may go to the station, Ferguson told me during a wide ranging, in depth discussion about a variety of human spaceflight topics and Boeings ambitious plans for their privately developed CST-100 human rated spaceship with a little help from NASA.

Boeing has reserved a launch slot at Cape Canaveral with United Launch Alliance (ULA), but the details are not yet public.

If all goes well, the maiden CST-100 orbital test flight with humans would follow around mid-2017.

The first manned test could happen by the end of summer 2017 with a two person crew, he said.

And we may go all the way to the space station.

Boeing is among a trio of American aerospace firms, including SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp, vying to restore Americas capability to fly humans to Earth orbit and the space station by late 2017, using seed money from NASAs Commercial Crew Program (CCP) in a public/private partnership. The next round of contracts will be awarded by NASA about late summer 2014.

Thats a feat that America hasnt accomplished in nearly three years.

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Boeing CST-100 Space Taxi Maiden Test Flight to ISS Expected Early 2017 One on One Interview with Chris Ferguson ...