Where would the modern space race be without one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world?
Boeing is one of four companies – along with Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada Corp., and SpaceX – that NASA is relying on to develop manned spaceships or “Space taxis” to launch astronauts into Earth’s orbit and to the International Space Station by 2017, filling the void left by the Space Shuttle’s disbandment. Currently, the only means for NASA to get astronauts to the ISS is through the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Boeing is at work on the CST-100 capsule that is similar in design to the Apollo spacecraft, which landed astronauts on the moon. It will carry up to seven passengers with the first manned mission scheduled for early 2017.
