波音公司计划研发“太空出租车”

Boeing has announced that it is to launch its CST-100 "space taxi", from the Orbiter Processing Facility used by the Space Shuttle at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

The company's CST-100 spacecraft can carry up to seven passengers to destinations such as the International Space Station.

Boeing hopes the craft will be in orbit within four years - and start a new era of cheap, manned, commercial space flight.

NASA is counting on companies like Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and others to ferry cargo and astronauts to and from the International Space Station in three to five years.

Until then, the space agency will continue to shell out tens of millions of dollars per seat on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The Soyuz is the only way to get astronauts to and from the space station, ever since Atlantis returned from the final shuttle flight in July.

A Soyuz rocket failure in August highlighted the risk of relying on just one type of craft.

Boeing expects to start removing shuttle platforms and modifying the hangar to suit its own purposes in the next few months.

Boeing wants to ferry astronauts not only to the International Space Station, but to a commercial scientific outpost planned for orbit by Bigelow Aerospace. Each capsule will hold seven people. A test flight is planned by 2017.

NASA wants to turn the space center - long a government-only local - into a multi-user spaceport. Other buildings are also up for grabs.

Tourists, meanwhile, are about to gain entry into areas that were once strictly off limits.

On Tuesday, the Vehicle Assembly Building - where fuel tanks and booster rockets were attached to space shuttles - will open its doors to public bus tours for the first time since 1978.

据英国《每日邮报》10月31日报道，波音公司近日宣布，将从美国宇航局在佛罗里达州的肯尼迪航天中心，通过航天飞机使用的轨道飞行器处理设施发射CST-100号“太空出租车”。

该公司的CST-100号飞船最多可搭载7名乘客去往目的地，例如到达国际空间站。

波音公司希望飞船能在四年内进入轨道——由此开启一个低价、可载人、商业化太空飞行的新时代。

美国宇航局希望依靠波音公司、太空探索技术公司以及其它航天公司在三到五年内实现货物和宇航员在地球和国际空间站间的往返运送。

在那之前，宇航局还将继续为俄罗斯“联盟号”宇宙飞船上的每个座位支付数千万美金。

自从七月份“亚特兰蒂斯”号结束最后一次太空飞行返回地球后，“联盟号”就成为了运送宇航员往返太空站的唯一途径。

八月“联盟号”的火箭发射事故提醒了仅仅只能依靠一种航天器的风险。

波音公司预期将在接下来的几个月中移除航天飞机的平台，并改造机库，以满足其自身需要。

波音公司不只想把宇航员送往国际空间站，还要将他们送到毕格罗航宇公司为轨道运行所计划的商业科学基地。每个航空舱将搭载七个人。计划2017年前进行试飞。

美国宇航局想要把航天中心——长久以来仅供政府使用——转变成为多用户的航天发射场地。其它建筑也待价而沽。

同时，游客也将有机会进入那些曾被严格限制进出的区域。

周二，飞行器装配大楼——航天飞机的燃料箱和助推火箭进行装配的地方——将敞开大门，开放公共巴士游览，这还是自1978年以来的第一次对外开放。