Image credits: NASA
Boeing Starliner is going to launch.
The first crewed Starliner mission, which will see the capsule carry two astronauts to the International Space Station, is progressing toward its historic May 6 launch date, leaders from NASA and Boeing told reporters.
NASA and Boeing concluded that the capsule is ready for launch after completing a critical flight test review on Thursday. Barring any problems, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams will board the Starliner on the evening of May 6 and take a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket into space.
After about 24 hours, the two astronauts will arrive at the International Space Station, where they will stay for about a week. The Starliner will remain docked at the station; The duo will use it to return to Earth. A total of five parachutes will slow the Starliner’s motion from ultra-fast orbital speeds to enable a soft landing somewhere in the western United States.
This will be the second Starliner flight to the International Space Station: the first, an uncrewed mission called Orbital Flight Test-2, took place in May 2022. If Boeing and NASA cannot meet the May 6 date, there are additional launch opportunities on May 7, 10 and 11. .
The importance of the mission cannot be underestimated. NASA established the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) in 2011 to purchase astronaut transportation services from private industry; The agency selected SpaceX and NASA under a multibillion-dollar deal. But unlike SpaceX, which completed all six missions under the original contract plus more, Boeing’s Starliner has been severely delayed by numerous technical issues.
Boeing was hit with costs exceeding $1.5 billion due to these delays. The airline giant has been hit by a series of other near-misses recently, with the company facing regulatory scrutiny over errors at its commercial aircraft unit. Earlier this year, it was announced that Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun would step down at the end of 2024.
For NASA, the new spacecraft means doubling America’s astronaut transportation resources and introducing a much-needed degree of redundancy to the agency’s human spaceflight program. If Boeing passes this test, the Starliner will receive its final certification and can begin regular missions under the CCP contract.
NASA determined that the probability of losing a crew on this Starliner mission was 1 in 295, higher than NASA’s required odds of 1 in 270. (A NASA representative did not have equivalent data for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle.)
“The lives of our crew members, Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore, are at stake,” NASA Associate Administrator Jim Frye said. “We don’t take that lightly at all.”
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