The Boeing Company of America has firstly disclosed the internal design of the CST-100 manned spacecraft it developed. The interior of the spacecraft is full of modernity, surrounded by sky blue LED lighting, and uses tablet computer technology.
Since the NASA space shuttle was retired in July 2011, the United States can only transport the astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station by using the Russian "Soyuz" spacecraft. However, the cost of riding the "Union" spacecraft is very high, each seat must pay 50 million US dollars. At the same time, the United States is pushing for commercial space flight and encouraging commercial space flight companies to develop manned spacecraft.
In 2010, Boeing and Bigelow Aerospace in Las Vegas received US $ 18 million in research and development funding from NASA's "Commercial Space Transportation System Development Program" to be responsible for a space capsule capable of carrying 7 passengers. Initial research and development and testing. The advent of the CST-100 spacecraft will reduce the dependence of the United States and its allies on the Russian space transportation system to a certain extent, and at the same time, it can also lay the technical foundation for the development of more advanced manned space vehicles.
CST-100 spacecraft can carry out short-distance flights within a distance of 100 kilometers above the surface of the earth. Its shape is quite similar to the "Apollo" spacecraft used for lunar exploration in the 1960s and 1970s, but it is larger than the "Apollo" spacecraft and slightly smaller than the "Orion" spacecraft. The interior of the spaceship is full of modernity, and the design is very simple. "In this spaceship, you can't find the various buttons that used to be 1,100 or 1,600," said Chris Filguson, a former American astronaut and director of Boeing's manned and mission control department. The large window design of the spacecraft allows passengers to enjoy a better view; the seats are made of special materials and are ultra-light, which helps control the weight of the spacecraft when it landed.
CST-100 spacecraft can be stationed in the space station orbit for 7 months and can be protected by an ablative heat shield when returning to land. The spacecraft can land on the land with the cushion of the safety air cushion. After replacing the heat shield, the new spacecraft can start again, and each spacecraft can fly about 10 times.
