A key piece of a commercial launch pad was installed Monday in another step in getting Americans back to space from United States soil.

  • Astronauts will cross the access arm to board crew capsules
  • Crew tower is first one built on Space Coast since Apollo era
  • Astronauts will travel to space in Boeing's CST-100 Starliner

The piece is called the Crew Access Tower — the walkway astronauts will use to board spacecraft headed for space. It begins the next chapter in getting American astronauts to space without Russia's help.

The bridge high above the historic Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will allow NASA astronauts to get on board United Launch Alliance rockets.

It's the same launch pad that sent off the Voyager probe and the Curiosity Rover to their history-making missions. A crane lifted the more than 90,000-pound crew access arm into its permanent spot. The arm includes a "white room," which is the final stop for astronauts before they are strapped in and head to orbit. It's similar to the one used in the 30-year space shuttle program.

Astronauts will be flying on the Boeing CST-100 spacecraft, called Starliner capsules, built for NASA and headed for missions to the International Space Station on Atlas V rockets.

"What really makes it all tick is software and small teams in backrooms to create an operational capability for the flight control team," said Chris Ferguson, a former space shuttle astronaut who is now with the Boeing Commercial Crew Program. "And to create training capability for that team and the astronauts."

Construction of the tower happened off-site in nearby Oak Hill because the launch pad has been busy in recent months.

The tower was brought to the Space Coast late last week.

"This is the next step in the next 100 years of spaceflight," said Barb Egan, of the ULA Commercial Crew Program.

The goal is to launch the first crewed mission in early 2018. That will mark the first time Americans have launched their own astronauts from U.S. soil since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011.

In 2014, NASA awarded Boeing a more than $4 billion contract to build and fly capsules that will take American astronauts to the International Space Station and other low-Earth orbit stops.