The Boeing Co. on Tuesday provided details about the space capsule it is designing to send humans back to the moon.
The new crew exploration vehicle – CEV for short – will hold up to six crew members for trips to the international space station, but initial flights would likely carry three astronauts and cargo, said Bryan Austin, Boeing’s CEV flight-operations manager.
The vehicle can hold up to four astronauts for trips to the moon and can also be used for trips to Mars.
The team led by Boeing and Northrop Grumman in California is competing against Jefferson County-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. to develop the CEV, the successor to the space shuttle.
NASA is expected to give the teams updated design specifications this week and a final request for a proposal in December. The teams will submit their entries in January, and NASA is expected to select a winner by June.
“Exploration is a large, important facet of Boeing,” Austin said Tuesday at an industry conference in League City, Texas.
NASA wants to retire the shuttle by 2010.
The CEV’s maiden flight is expected in 2012. A demonstration flight could come as early as 2008.
The CEV project is part of NASA’s 13-year, $104 billion plan for sending humans back to the moon by as early as 2018, with an eye on manned missions to Mars.
About 150 people are working on the CEV project at Lockheed’s Waterton plant in Jefferson County, said Patrick McKenzie, Lockheed’s business-development manager for the CEV project.
If Lockheed wins the multibillion-dollar contract, the company would likely add several hundred new jobs at Waterton.
“This CEV project would be a huge boost to Jefferson County’s economy,” said Preston Gibson, president of the Jefferson Economic Council. “If they have 300 to 500 jobs created by this, there could be more than a thousand spin-off jobs. That’s very significant.”
Staff writer Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-820-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com.
