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Boeing enters commercial spacecraft race

SEATTLE, July 20 (UPI) -- U.S. company Boeing says it is accelerating plans for a capsule-based spaceship to carry people to the ISS space station and future private space stations.

Boeing's Crew Space Transportation-100 spacecraft proposal is just one of several efforts by different U.S. companies to develop the first private spaceship capable of flying humans to space, SPACE.com reported Monday.

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Impetus for such plans comes President Barack Obama's goals for NASA, which call for commercial spacecraft to assume the role of transporting astronauts to the space station when the space shuttle program is phased out in 2011.

Boeing's CST-100 craft is similar in appearance to NASA's Apollo spacecraft but is larger and can carry up to seven people.

It has been designed for compatibility with a variety of commercial rockets, including United Launch Alliance's Atlas and Delta boosters, and SpaceX's Falcon rockets, SPACE.com said.

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