CHAPTER 14 DAY IN THE LIFE: VITAL VISITING VEHICLES—KEEPING THE REMOTE OUTPOST CREWED AND OPERATING 246 anticipated to take place in 2018. See Figure 13. These new crew spacecraft will be able to carry up to four astronauts to and from the space station, which would bring the station crew size up to seven. Image courtesy of Boeing Image courtesy of SpaceX Figure 13. CST-100 Starliner (top) and Crew Dragon (bottom) approach the forward docking port on the Node 2 module. Unlike the cargo vehicles, which berth, the new crewed spacecraft will dock using a newly developed NASA Docking System. Cargo is often bulky, especially if a full payload rack is being sent to the ISS therefore, these uncrewed cargo vehicles use the wider Common Berthing Mechanism described in Chapter 3. However, the crewed vehicles will not be transporting large pieces of cargo, and they must be able to quickly get away without requiring the robotic arm since the vehicles will also serve as the emergency lifeboat for the crew. SpaceX will control its Crew Dragon vehicle out of its Mission Control Center facility in Hawthorne, California. Boeing, partnered with the Flight Operations Division at Johnson Space Center, will operate the Starliner out of one of the control rooms in Houston that is known as Mission Control Center CST-100. Conclusion Although the ISS is a technical marvel, having been built by multiple countries through many launches, supplying the remote outpost has been critical to its survival. When Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed during reentry in 2003, the ISS had to reduce the number of resident crew members from the limit of three (at the time) to two. This was because the only cargo vehicle available was the Russian Progress spacecraft, which could carry enough supplies for only two people. Today, four different vehicles can transport cargo to the ISS. As of 2015, more than 30 cargo missions have flown by the fleet consisting of the European ATV, the Japanese HTV, and the American Cygnus and Dragon vehicles. The new cargo craft—the Dream Chaser—should be added in a few years.