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U.S. NEWS Saturday 4 auguSt 2018

TEST FLIGHTS by Boeing resulted in leak-
Continued from Front ing engine fuel.
"For the first time since 2011, Astronaut Doug Hurley,
we are on the brink of who will be on the first crew
launching American astro- of the SpaceX Dragon,
nauts on American rockets hinted at the delays when
from American soil," said he noted, "The first flight
NASA Administrator Jim is something you dream
Bridenstine, who made the about as a test pilot, and
introductions at Johnson you don't think it's ever go-
Space Center. ing to happen to you. But
U.S. astronauts now take looks like it might."
Russian capsules to the "Oh, it better," Bridenstine
space station, with NASA chimed in.
paying as much as $82 mil- Besides Ferguson and
lion a seat. Mann, the initial commer-
Boeing's first Starliner crew cial crew members are:
will include a former NASA Eric Boe, Sunita Williams
astronaut who command- and John Cassada riding
ed the last shuttle flight in on Boeing. Robert Behnk-
2011, Chris Ferguson, who's en, Douglas Hurley, Victor
now a Boeing employee. Glover and Michael Hop-
The other commercial kins will fly with SpaceX.
crew members are still with SpaceX President Gwynne
NASA. All have a military Shotwell took a photo of
background. the astronauts before as-
The seven men and two suring them, "We won't let
women pumped their fists you down."
in the air and gave thumbs- Boeing's Starliners will soar
up as they strode onto the on United Launch Alli-
stage to cheers from the ance's Atlas V rockets.
crowd. Dragons, meanwhile, will fly Astronauts, from left, Eric Boe, Sunita Williams, Christopher Ferguson, Josh Cassada and Nicole
"As a test pilot, it doesn't on SpaceX's own Falcon 9 Mann react after being introduced at a NASA event to announce them as astronauts assigned to
get any better than this," rockets. The race to get as- crew the first flight tests and missions of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon,
Friday, Aug. 3, 2018, in Houston.
said astronaut Nicole Au- tronauts to the space sta- Associated Press
napu Mann, a Naval avia- tion first is real; a U.S. flag
tor who will make her first that flew on the first space involved with the Boeing only going to get better as former shuttle commander
trip into space on the first shuttle flight in 1981 and capsule since the begin- we charge off into the fu- who now heads Kennedy
Starliner crew. the last shuttle flight in 2011, ning. ture," said Bob Cabana, a Space Center.q
She later said the energy awaits the winner. "So good or bad, it's got my
in the packed auditorium A white SpaceX launch suit name on it, and I'm sure it's
was incredible. and a blue Boeing launch going to be good," he told
"We're ushering in this new suit stood on display behind the AP.
era of American space- the astronauts on stage. SpaceX is shooting for a
flight. I really think it's just Ferguson told the gather- test flight without passen-
the beginning," Mann told ing that these new high- gers in November and a
The Associated Press. tech capsules will have a crew flight in April. Boeing
NASA has been paying bil- higher emphasis on safety is aiming for a test flight at
lions of dollars to SpaceX than the shuttle did, with full the end of this year or ear-
and Boeing to develop the abort systems. The group lik- ly next, and the first crew
crew capsules to pick up ened it to flying an iPhone, flight in the middle of next
where the shuttles left off, with a minimal number of year.
while also paying billions switches compared with By handing off crew and
for cargo deliveries to the the 3,000 switches in the old cargo runs to the space
space station by SpaceX shuttle cockpit. station — which will keep
and Northrop Grumman. As for being the only non- orbiting until at least 2024 —
The cargo missions start- NASA guy on board, Fergu- NASA has set its sight on the
ed in 2012. The crew mis- son explained later during moon and Mars, develop-
sions have been delayed a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" ing the Orion capsule and
repeatedly because of program that Boeing al- the massive Space Launch
the technical challenges ways uses company test System rocket.
and difficulties of making pilots for first flights "and the "This is truly an exciting time
spacecraft safe for hu- Starliner is no exception." for human spaceflight in our
mans. A recent abort test Ferguson noted he's been nation, and believe me, it's