Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner has reached a significant milestone in its journey towards a crewed test flight to the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft, set for a pivotal mission next month, has been successfully installed on the Atlas 5 rocket. The spacecraft’s journey began when it rolled out from Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center, making its way to Space Launch Complex 41 in the early morning hours of April 16. Later in the day, it was hoisted into place atop the Atlas 5 rocket in the Vertical Integration Facility building.
Crewed Test Flight Details
The Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission, scheduled for no earlier than the evening of May 6, will carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS. After reaching the station, they will stay for approximately eight days before boarding Starliner for the return journey. The spacecraft is expected to land in the southwestern United States.
Delay and Rescheduling
Originally planned for May 1, the launch was postponed due to activities at the ISS. This included revised schedules for the departure of a cargo Dragon vehicle and the relocation of the Crew Dragon spacecraft to free up the docking port on the Harmony module for Starliner.
Previous Tests and Objectives
The CFT mission follows a second uncrewed test flight, OFT-2, conducted almost two years ago. While the first uncrewed test flight in December 2019 faced malfunctions, OFT-2 successfully docked to the ISS and returned to Earth. The primary objective of the CFT mission is to assess how spacecraft systems perform with a crew on board. Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager for Starliner at Boeing, emphasized the importance of this phase, stating that most of the flight test objectives revolve around evaluating the vehicle’s performance with humans in control.
Certification and Future Missions
A successful CFT would pave the way for the certification of Starliner for regular crew rotation missions, starting with Starliner-1 in early 2025. Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager, highlighted the significance of staying on schedule to achieve certification by November or December. The next milestone for the CFT mission is a flight test readiness review scheduled for April 25, coinciding with the arrival of Wilmore and Williams at the Kennedy Space Center for final preparations.
As anticipation builds for the upcoming crewed test flight, all eyes are on Starliner and its journey towards becoming a reliable transport for astronauts to and from the ISS.