Following the announcement that NASA would award Boeing(NYSE: BA) $4.2 billion to transport crews to the International Space Station, the Houston offices of the Chicago-based aerospace company are gearing up to handle the new job.
While the manufacturing Boeing's crew transport pod, the CST-100, will take place at its facility in Florida, the software development and training of the astronauts will happen here in Houston. Boeing is expected to hire an initial 100 high-tech employees to expand its space transportation development in Houston.
And those jobs will come mostly within Houston, said Chris Ferguson, the director of crew and mission systems for Boeing.
'If you're hiring in the space business, this is the place to do it,' he told the Houston Business Journal.
Ferguson also said some of Boeing's new hires will come from within Boeing and that it's working with NASA and the Johnson Space Center for sub-contracting as well.
'You have highly-skilled workers who've worked shuttle operations and are familiar with the dynamic aspects of flight ... Now you have them gainfully doing the things the JSC excels at doing,' Ferguson said.
The deal between NASA, Boeing and SpaceX represents a new chapter for the United States in space travel. NASA previously paid up to $71 million per seat for U.S. astronauts on Russian spacecraft traveling to the International Space Station. The hope is that with collaboration between the private sector, NASA can alleviate some costs for space travel and open up a new industry in the process.
Boeing notified the Texas Workforce Commission that it would cut 175 jobs at its Houston office, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed in June. However, Boeing filed the WARN letter as a precaution in case it didn't land the contract. A Boeing spokesperson said those jobs are still active following the announcement of the lucrative contract.
The plan is to have payloads on their way to the ISS by 2017. Ferguson also mentioned that Boeing is interested in bidding on the new contract for the cargo resupply missions.
Joe Martin covers health care and technology for the Houston Business Journal. Entities 0 Name: Boeing Count: 11 1 Name: Houston Count: 5 2 Name: NASA Count: 5 3 Name: Ferguson Count: 3 4 Name: Houston Business Journal Count: 2 5 Name: BA Count: 1 6 Name: Chris Ferguson Count: 1 7 Name: Joe Martin Count: 1 8 Name: U.S. Count: 1 9 Name: JSC Count: 1 10 Name: Florida Count: 1 11 Name: United States Count: 1 12 Name: ISS Count: 1 13 Name: SpaceX Count: 1 14 Name: Texas Workforce Commission Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1rc2Em7 Title: Elena Serova May Be First Female Cosmonaut to Reach Space in 17 Years Description: A Russian woman may become the first female cosmonaut to travel to space in 17 years on Friday when the Soyuz-TMA-14M spacecraft launches from Kazakhstan and sets course for the International Space Station. In the early hours of Friday morning local time, Elena Serova is scheduled to embark on a six-month mission along with fellow cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore.
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