NASA astronauts prepare for flight on commercial spacecraft
ST. LOUIS- Five years after the last NASA astronauts flew from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to the International Space Station, a new group is preparing for a trip, this time on a private spacecraft.
On Tuesday, veteran astronauts Eric Boe and Sunita Williams used touch-screen simulators to practice docking Boeing Co.'s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft with the space station during a training session near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The simulator, called the Crew Part-Task Trainer, helps prepare astronauts and flight controllers for missions, flight conditions and situations including the rendezvous and docking with the space station.
"This is the next really exciting chapter for our country and our space program," Williams said. "It refocuses on what I think is really important -- planning for the next generations and thinking of their future."
