Amid a busy launch pad within a site with a celebrated space heritage, a sign of a new era in human spaceflight is climbing upward in the Cape Canaveral skyline. The Boeing Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 Starliner spacecraft crew access tower is in the midst of construction at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Crews are building a seven-tiered metal latticework structure at Space Launch Complex 41 and will begin stacking once complete, between ULA’s busy launch schedule. The tower, which is more than 200-feet tall, will take astronauts to the top of an Atlas V rocket equipped with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner. "In the end, we are going to have a very safe, very effective and very cost efficient way of getting astronauts back and forth to low earth orbit," said Chris Ferguson, director of Boeing Crew and Mission Operations. The overall effort is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program that will transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Check out the video to learn more about the crew access tower and how it will play a part in spaceflight history.

Boeing's Commercial Crew Access Tower will have seven metal latticework tiers and will stand over 200ft tall once complete.

Boeing