NASA’s efforts to establish new partnerships began about 10 years ago with agreements that would become regular cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station by rockets owned and operated by private companies. NASA continues to drive for safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to low-Earth orbit with a growing diversity of crewed vehicles and cargo-carrying craft – all privately developed and operated with insight from NASA’s spaceflight experts. As NASA focuses on deep space exploration, industry stands on the cusp of the emerging marketplace of low-Earth orbit: https://go.nasa.gov/2mJG2hq
Veteran astronaut Bob Behnken is discussing NASA’s Commercial Crew Program development and training during an interview on NASA TV. Behnken is one of four NASA astronauts training for flight tests for the Commercial Crew Program. Boeing and SpaceX are working closely with NASA to build a new generation of human-rated spacecraft capable of flying astronauts to the International Space Station in order to return America’s capability to launch its astronauts from its own soil and to enhance research on the unique orbiting laboratory. Along with Behnken, astronauts Eric Boe, Doug Hurley and Suni Williams are training with Boeing and SpaceX for missions aboard spacecraft and launch systems that each company is building and will operate.
A flight-sized boilerplate of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner touched down gently under parachutes against the backdrop of the San Andres Mountains in late February, providing a preview of how the spacecraft will return to Earth in upcoming NASA missions. Boeing is developing the Starliner to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station in partnership with NASA’s 
The Environmental Control and Life Support System of a spacecraft provides astronauts with breathing air and handles everything from temperature regulation to removing carbon dioxide as astronauts breathe.
Astronauts heading into orbit aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will wear lighter and more comfortable spacesuits than earlier suits astronauts wore. The suit capitalizes on historical designs, meets NASA requirements for safety and functionality, and introduces cutting-edge innovations. Boeing unveiled its spacesuit design Wednesday as the company continues to move toward flight tests of its Starliner spacecraft and launch systems that will fly astronauts to the International Space Station.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will experience a variety of tremendous internal and external forces during missions to and from the International Space Station. When the Starliner launches in 2018, it won’t be the first time the spacecraft has encountered these forces. That is because Boeing built a Structural Test Article that will experience the rigors of spaceflight in a test facility in an effort to prove the design of the spacecraft. The module was built inside the company’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida (top) before it was shipped it across the country to Huntington Beach, California, for testing (right).
It joined test versions of the service module, the launch vehicle adapter truss structure and other hardware that make up the upper stage of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Testing of the article began shortly after it arrived to Boeing’s Test and Evaluation facility. The first test involved pressurizing the interior of the crew module to 1.5 times the maximum pressure a Starliner spacecraft would face during ascent, orbit, re-entry and landing for missions to and from the International Space Station.
Boeing’s facilities in southern California are outfitted with numerous test chambers that routinely evaluate spacecraft and other vehicles in a variety of environments to make sure they can handle the demands of flight.
