Boeing Starliner ahead of flight test with astronauts in 2021

Boeing on the trial mode of Orbital flight test mission before launching astronauts to the international space centre.

Washington:NASA and Boeing continue to make progress toward the company’s second uncrewed flight test of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft that would begin operational missions to the International Space Station (ISS) at the end of 2021.

NASA said that before that happens, it has scheduled a second uncrewed test flight, known as Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2), for no earlier than December 2020.

Teams from Boeing are well into the final assembly of the crew and service modules that will fly OFT-2 to the space station. OFT-2 will fly a new, reusable Starliner crew module providing an additional on-orbit experience for the operational teams prior to flying missions with astronauts. For Boeing’s Commercial Crew missions, the Starliner spacecraft will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, left, Mike Fincke, and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson, right, pose for a photograph on Sept. 11, 2019, as they, along with teams from NASA, Boeing and the White Sands Missile Range, rehearse landing and crew extraction from Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner. Credits: Boeing

The team also has completed the installation of the Starliner propellant heater, thermal protection system tiles and the airbags that will be used when the spacecraft touches down for landing.

Boeing also remains focused on incorporating the recommendations from the joint NASA-Boeing Independent Review Team with almost 75 per cent of the 80 proposed actions implemented. The independent team was formed to review anomalies experienced during OFT, which led to Starliner not reaching its planned orbit or docking to the station as planned and to provide recommendations to ensure a robust design for future missions.

Following a successful OFT-2, Boeing will focus full attention on preparations for its final flight test with astronauts and is already completing work on the Crew Flight Test spacecraft in parallel. The CFT crew members are Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson and NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann.

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams, Josh Cassada and Jeanette Epps are crew members of the Starliner-1 mission. Cassada and Williams were both selected for the mission in August 2018, and NASA announced Epps' assignment on August 25.

The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station. This could allow for additional research time and increase the opportunity for discovery aboard humanity’s testbed for exploration, including helping us prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

(Inputs from IANS)