Boeing to sign lease for US space shuttle hangar

Boeing Co plans to build space taxis at a mothballed space shuttle processing hangar at Kennedy Space Center in central Florida, according to company sources.

The company has reached agreement with Space Florida, a state-backed agency working to expand space-related businesses in Florida, to lease the Orbiter Processing Hangar Bay 3 at the center, Boeing spokeswoman Susan Wells said on Friday.

Wells said details of the lease agreement would be announced on Monday. Sources familiar with the plan said it would center on the space taxi manufacturing venture.

Kennedy Space Center is drafting a master plan for a revamped spaceport that, in addition to supporting future NASA spacecraft, will host commercial, military and international customers.

Boeing is one of four companies NASA is sponsoring to develop spaceships that can ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, a $100 billion project of 16 nations orbiting 240 miles above Earth.

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