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IPFS News Link • Space Travel and Exploration

Interview: Former Astronaut Chris Ferguson On Commercial Space Travel

• http://gulfbusiness.com-Robert Anderson

It's not often one gets a little bit intimidated in journalism. But then, its not often you get to sit in a room with a bona fide former astronaut.

Chris Ferguson is just that. Highlights of hismore than 40 days in space include piloting shuttle STS-115 Atlantis, commanding STS- 126 Endeavour and leading the final shuttle mission of STS-135 Atlantis. When done with the space exploration, Ferguson also served as deputy chief of the Astronaut office.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Abu Dhabi, the space veteran comes across as a man fulfilling his childhood dream.

"I watched men walk on the moon when I was a kid and I never looked back, I knew I always wanted to do something like this," he says.

Now as director of crew & mission operations for Boeing's Commercial Crew Programme, the retired US Navy Captain is looking to the next phase of space travel, with a craft that could be the beginning of a commercial space industry.

RETURNING TO SPACE

Following the end of the space shuttle programme in 2011, the US was left without the ability to send astronauts back and fourth to space, forcing the country to rely on old rival Russia for the capability for the last three years.

This changed in September when NASA announced the selection of Boeing's Crew Space Transportation-100 (CST-100) and SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft to transport American crews to and from the International Space Station (ISS), with the goal of ending the nation's sole reliance on Russia in 2017.


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