NASA calls the new adapter “a metaphorical gateway to a future” as it will bring future astronaut crews riding on NASA’s first human-rated spacecraft since the space shuttle, Space X’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and Boeing’s CST-100 to the ISS.
Advertisement
NASA had hoped to have the first of two new docking ports installed a year ago, but the equipment was destroyed during a SpaceX cargo ship launch accident in June 2015.
“It is awesome that now we’ve opened up a new chapter in the story of the International Space Station, putting the front door on this for future commercial vehicles”, Williams said.
Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins stepped outside the orbiting lab to fit an adapter, which will be used by private spacecraft to dock at the station in the coming years.
Americans haven’t rocketed into orbit from their home turf since NASA’s last shuttle flight in 2011. One of the two companies is expected to make a maiden flight to the ISS in early 2018, where it will plug in to this new adapter.
Until then, Russian Federation will keep providing all the rides – at a hefty price for U.S. taxpayers.
NASA divested itself of cargo deliveries a few years back, hiring private USA companies to carry out shipments. Commercial crew launches will be an even bigger advance.
Frank Culbertson Jr., president of Orbital ATK’s Space Systems Group and a former NASA astronaut, said the ISS was the latest example of government-funded technologies are migrating to the private sector.
Nasa is soliciting ideas from private enterprise on ways to use the orbiting laboratory for commercial purposes, taking another, tentative step in USA efforts to create a marketplace in space. It has awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to build commercial spaceships, with their first flights slated for 2017.
NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Bill Hill revealed what the agency wants to do with the ISS once astronauts have taken off. Another one – cobbled together from spare parts – should fly up in about a year.
Williams will have 534 days in space by the time he wraps up his stint at the ISS and returns to Earth in early September. This will be the fourth spacewalk for Jeff Williams, the first for Kate Rubins, and the 194th for the International Space Station. “Come on out”, he urged Rubins.
“The view is phenomenal”, Rubins said, as she exited the space station’s Quest airlock.
This is the first of two such docks, the second of which is expected to be attached in 2018. NASA will provide most, perhaps all, of the initial test pilots.
Advertisement
Stay on topic – This helps keep the thread focused on the discussion at hand.
