Boeing opens commercial spaceship plant in Florida

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Boeing opens commercial spaceship plant in Florida
September 06, 2015

CAPE CANAVERAL: Boeing Co took the wraps off an assembly plant on Friday for its first line of commercial spaceships, which NASA plans to use to fly crews to the International Space Station, officials said.

“This is a point in history that reflects a new era in human spaceflight,” Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said at a grand opening ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center.

Boeing already has the Dreamliner. Now it also has the Starliner. The aerospace giant announced the name of its future space fleet. More than 200 people, including Florida Governor Rick Scott, NASA and Boeing officials, and a bevy of former astronauts, gathered at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to celebrate the grand opening of Boeing’s commercial crew and cargo processing facility.

Once a space shuttle hangar, the transformed building will serve as home to the Starliner. Its first launch with a crew to the International Space Station is targeted for 2017.




Read more: http://gulftoday.ae/portal/ba59141e-48ac-4f95-9fd8-af46acaafcd7.aspx

[msanthrope]

1. Sign me up. We are all star stuff....nt

[sofa king]

2. Hmm. Florida-built, or California-built?

Which would I pick if my life depended upon it?

[former9thward]

5. Maybe the most competent company...

Who cares what state it is built in?

[sofa king]

7. Maybe the most competent company...

... cared very much about which state it is built in.

[24601]

8. Very likely that while final assembly may be in Florida - which puts it close to the launch point,

building all the components probably will happen in a number of states.

[wcmagumba]

3. LEO

Maybe it should be called the Low Earth Orbit Liner or Leoliner since that's where it actually goes.

[Faux pas]

4. I'm sure they'll be getting all kinds taxpayers

money, subsidies and tax breaks. What a waste of money.

[PersonNumber503602]

6. Not a fan of space stuff?

[Marrah_G]

11. This sort of thing is never a waste

Just designing and building for space travel ends up with new breakthroughs for things here on earth.

http://kearth101.cbslocal.com/2011/07/21/list-stuff-we-use-everyday-that-was-invented-from-the-space-program/

[sofa king]

12. Do you like animals?

You would still be clad from head to toe in animal body parts were it not for the Space Age materials that were designed to put people in space, not make you look good or save animals. Because until it became profitable to do otherwise, nobody gave a shit about harvesting animals for clothing.

See how that works?

[Codeine]

13. Science is scary. Better to spend all that money on weed. nt

[yurbud]

9. so in a couple of years it will be their underwater spaceship factory

[Marrah_G]

10. We need more plants like this

More high tech research and design! I would love to see a really big space station get built