Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with information on fascinating discoveries, scientific advances and much more..
Boeing’s spaceflight program could hit a major milestone Monday evening with the launch of its Starliner spacecraft, finally carrying two NASA astronauts into orbit.
The mission, called Crew Flight Test, could take off as early as Monday at 10:34 p.m. ET from the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida.
Live coverage of the event will be broadcast on NASA channels starting at 6:30 p.m. ET on Monday, according to the space agency.
The opportunity has been a decade in the making – the culmination of Boeing’s efforts to develop a spacecraft worthy of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Development delays, test flight problems and other costly setbacks have slowed Starliner’s path to the launch pad. Meanwhile, Boeing’s rival in NASA’s commercial crew program – SpaceX – has become the go-to transportation provider for the space agency’s astronauts.
Today, NASA and Boeing finally deemed the Starliner spacecraft ready for its ultimate test: allowing astronauts to test the vehicle in space.
Veteran NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will be aboard Monday’s mission, riding the Starliner to the International Space Station for a week-long stay.
Throughout their flight, Wilmore and Williams will perform a series of tests, including briefly taking controls of the autonomous spacecraft and evaluating how the vehicle functions for the astronauts.
A smooth flight could be a winning moment for Boeing’s spaceflight program and for the company as a whole, which is in the hot seat because of problems with its commercial aircraft division.
Here’s what you need to know about Starliner’s journey ahead of its historic crewed test flight.
The human component
Boeing officials sought to clarify that Starliner operates separately from the company’s commercial aircraft business. And the Starliner team’s main interest is to ensure the successful completion of the test mission and the safety of the crew, according to Mark Nappi, vice president and manager of the Starliner program at Boeing.
“We have humans flying this vehicle. We still take this very seriously,” Nappi said at a press conference last week. “I’ve spent my career in this business, and it’s always been at the top of my list. »
The two Starliner astronauts waited years for the spacecraft to be deemed ready to carry crew. After several astronauts alternated their missions during the Starliner crew flight test, Wilmore received her appointment in 2020. NASA transferred Williams to this flight in 2022 after initially assigning her in 2018 to a Starliner mission later.
“We had several launch dates and we were like, ‘OK, we’re good to go,'” Williams said at a news conference Wednesday. “But now it’s like, damn, five days. It’s actually, finally real, and I kind of have to pinch myself a little bit to understand, actually, here we go.
At a press conference last month, Steve Stich, head of NASA’s commercial crew program, said NASA required Boeing and SpaceX to meet a certain threshold regarding the risk that the mission would result in the death of astronauts – 1 in 270.
“Boeing exceeds this figure with a crew number loss of 1 in 295,” he said.
The Starliner’s rocky path
Boeing received a contract from NASA to build Starliner in 2014, just as the space agency was selecting SpaceX to build its Crew Dragon capsule.
NASA awarded the companies contracts worth a total of $6.8 billion, with the expectation that Boeing and SpaceX would both have their capsules ready to fly as early as 2017.
This expectation did not materialize.
SpaceX took longer than expected, conducting the inaugural astronaut launch of its Crew Dragon capsule in the summer of 2020. It has since completed 13 missions to orbit for NASA astronauts and paying customers.
But Boeing — even though NASA officials initially thought the Starliner would be ready before SpaceX’s Crew Dragon — has faced years of delays, setbacks and additional expenses that have cost the company more than a billion dollars, according to public financial documents.
Notably, the Starliner’s first test mission, carried out without a crew at the end of 2019, was fraught with missteps. The vehicle misfired in orbit, a symptom of software problems that included a coding error that shifted an internal clock by 11 hours.
A second uncrewed flight test in 2022 revealed additional software issues and problems with some of the vehicle’s thrusters.
Those holdups delayed the maiden crewed flight until 2023. But then a new set of problems emerged: The spacecraft’s parachutes had some components weaker than expected, and the duct tape in the vehicle turned out to be flammable.
Boeing then had to remove more than a mile of this strip and conduct additional tests on the parachutes.
Eventually, after a decade of development, NASA and Boeing licensed the vehicle to transport astronauts.
“Everything will not be absolutely perfect”
Williams and Wilmore took a measured approach in answering questions about development problems with the Starliner spacecraft.
“I understand when you talk about ‘setback,'” Wilmore said at the recent press conference. “But honestly, with all the discoveries – that’s what we would call it – that we’ve made, it’s been a step forward.
“This has not been a setback, it has been progress,” he said. “And our families have been through this with us.”
Williams added that she was ready to embark on Monday’s mission hoping that small problems might arise.
“We’re always finding things, and we’re going to continually find things,” she said Wednesday. “Not everything will be absolutely perfect while we are flying the spaceship. And that’s really what our goal is. We’ve gotten to a point – all of us, big team – have gotten to a point where we feel very safe and comfortable with the way this spacecraft flies, and we have backup procedures just in case. we would need it.
“We are here,” Williams said, “because we are ready.”
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account at CNN.com
yahoo
