Isn’t it amazing how you can take a cockpit/control room and when you shift it 90 degrees it suddenly becomes cool? Boeing has revealed to us Earthlings the engineering mock-up of their CST-100 interior. Gotta say, it’s like a shuttlecraft from the future!
Not just designed for the practical needs of getting from one place to another, Boeing is also the psychological needs. There is a blue sky scene to help passengers retain their connection with Earth.
Storage is plentiful – with numerous portholes and 2 bulkheads that are for storage. It’s got peaceful, mood setting light with its blue lighting scheme. And not only that, it seems roomy.
Of course we know the astronauts don’t travel to space for the frequent flyer miles and so there are the strictly engineering parts of the design. Such as it being weldless or capable of flying ten mission before it needs to be replaced, can carry seven passengers AND cargo. The use of space is really quite well thought out!
Honestly, it’s not very surprising. Boeing has been doing just this for what seems like forever! Their design team has been award winning for their commercial plane’s interiors.
Is this nice interior for our astronauts? Well, yes & no. Boeing is designing this specifically for the CST-100 which is for the transfer of NASA astronauts to the ISS but they also are seeing the new space markets and customers that reside beyond NASA. Perhaps an example of this would be Boeing’s partner Bigelow Aerospace who was at the unveiling where Bigelow exhibited a full scale model of its BA 330 module. (The module I have often said is perfect for use as a port or station en route to places deeper in space.
Maybe the CST-100 will be the transportation to Bigelow’s orbiting Space Hotel, you never know!
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