Boeing’s Starliner is about to launch.
NASA and Boeing leaders told reporters that the first crewed Starliner mission, in which the capsule will carry two astronauts to the International Space Station, is moving toward its historic May 6 launch date.
NASA and Boeing concluded the capsule is ready for launch after completing a critical test flight on Thursday. Unless problems arise, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will board Starliner on the evening of May 6 and take their ride on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket to space.
About 24 hours later, the two astronauts arrive at the ISS, where they will stay for about a week. Starliner remains docked at the station; the duo will use it to return to Earth. A total of five parachutes will slow Starliner from ultra-fast orbital speeds to allow for a soft landing somewhere in the western US
This will mark Starliner’s second flight to the ISS: the first, an unmanned mission called Orbital Flight Test-2, took place in May 2022. If Boeing and NASA cannot meet the May 6 date, additional flights will be scheduled for May 7 launch capabilities. , 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 multi-billion 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 problems.
Boeing has been hit with more than $1.5 billion in overrun costs as a result of these delays. The aerospace giant has been hit by a slew of other near-catastrophes recently, with the company facing regulatory scrutiny over failures in its commercial aircraft division. Earlier this year it was announced that Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun would resign at the end of 2024.
For NASA, a new spacecraft means doubling U.S. resources for transporting astronauts and introducing a much-needed degree of redundancy to the agency’s human spaceflight program. If Boeing passes this test, Starliner will achieve its final certification and begin regular missions under the CCP contract.
NASA has determined that the chance of crew loss on this Starliner mission is 1 in 295, which is higher than NASA’s required 1 in 270 chance. (A NASA representative did not have equivalent data for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.)
“The lives of our crew members, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, are at stake,” said NASA Administrator Jim Free. “We absolutely do not take this lightly.”
