Technicians gape as Boeing’s Starliner crew module is placed on high of the provider module within the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Condo Heart in Florida, on Jan. 14, 2021. The Starliner spacecraft is being willing for Boeing’s 2nd Orbital Flight Test (OFT-2).
(Image: © John Proferes/Boeing)
Boeing is planning to originate its CST-100 Starliner astronaut taxi on a 2nd take a look at flight on March 25, company officials announced Monday (Jan. 25).
A United Initiating Alliance Atlas V rocket will originate the uncrewed spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Condo Force Web lisp online in Florida, after which Starliner will strive to rendezvous and dock with the Worldwide Condo Web lisp online (ISS) — something the spacecraft didn’t lift out for the duration of its first take a look at flight, known as Orbital Flight Test-1 (OFT-1), in December 2019.
The upcoming mission, known as Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), modified into no longer firstly piece of Boeing’s itinerary when the corporate modified into growing Starliner for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. But after a chain of system defects refrained from OFT-1 from reaching the ISS and precipitated an early touchdown in Fresh Mexico, NASA and Boeing determined to redo the uncrewed take a look at flight sooner than launching Starliner with astronauts on board.
Associated: Boeing’s 1st Starliner flight take a look at in pictures
The announcement of OFT-2’s purpose originate date comes vivid one week after Boeing’s Starliner passed a key machine requalification take a look at, for the duration of which Boeing teams “performed a elephantine machine overview and several sequence of checks to overview Starliner’s machine meets make specs,” Boeing officials stated in a assertion.
“Boeing also will total an end-to-end simulation of the OFT-2 take a look at flight using flight hardware and closing versions of Starliner’s flight machine to model the auto’s anticipated behavior sooner than flight,” the assertion added. Boeing had been criticized for no longer conducting such an “end-to-end” take a look at for OFT-1 attend in 2019, when Starliner didn’t reach the merely orbit.
If all goes in step with belief with OFT-2, the Starliner spacecraft will assign an orbit insertion maneuver about 31 minutes after liftoff, sending the spacecraft on its capacity to the ISS, the assign it is anticipated to reach the next day (approximately 26 hours after liftoff).
The Starliner will autonomously dock itself at the condominium trouble’s Harmony module for approximately a week, for the duration of which time the seven-person crew of Expedition 64 will unload any cargo on board and think relating to the spacecraft. (Starliner can utilize several months in orbit, however this mission might be saved short as it is only a take a look at.) Once its orbital protect at the ISS is over, Starliner will autonomously undock from the effort at return to Earth for a parachute-assisted touchdown in Fresh Mexico.
If Boeing and NASA lift out no longer screech from now on tall concerns with Starliner for the duration of the OFT-2 mission, the important thing Starliner to cruise with astronauts on board might per chance follow as early as June. That mission, known as Crew Flight Test (CFT), will send NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Nicole Mann and Butch Wilmore to the ISS for an prolonged protect. NASA has no longer announced the length of the CFT mission, however in 2019 the company stated it would be an extended-length mission that might per chance potentially closing for spherical six months.
The first operational mission to lift astronauts, known as Starliner 1, will lift NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada to the ISS for a six-month protect. That mission is tentatively scheduled for no earlier than December 2021, NASA officials stated in a assertion.
Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @hannekescience. Put together us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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