Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft approaches the Worldwide House Station
NASA
Boeing’s Starliner capsule lastly makes its first manned flight. It’s scheduled to launch on Could 6 from Cape Canaveral, Florida atop an Atlas V rocket. If the launch goes as deliberate, Starliner and its two passengers will arrive on the Worldwide House Station (ISS) on Could eighth.
Starliner has been in growth for greater than a decade, however its first check flight did not happen till 2019. The flight reached orbit, however a software program challenge prevented it from merging with the ISS. The second unmanned check flight in 2022 was profitable, setting the stage for the primary manned check.
The 2 check astronauts aboard Starliner are Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, every of whom has been to the ISS twice earlier than. The plan is to remain on the ISS for every week earlier than returning to Earth.
The mission’s purpose is to show Starliner is a protected possibility for transporting crew to and from the ISS, and most of its goals embody testing the spacecraft and its software program. That is additionally the primary time the Atlas V rocket shall be used for a manned mission. If all goes properly, Starliner shall be cleared for operation and manned flights will start yearly.
NASA signed a contract with Boeing in 2014 to make use of the Starliner as a shuttle to the ISS, and on the identical time SpaceX signed an identical contract for the Dragon capsule. Boeing is trailing Dragon, which accomplished its first profitable crewed flight in 2020 and is presently on its eighth operational mission.
As soon as each are operational, NASA will be capable of select whether or not to go to the ISS, one thing that hasn’t been the case for the reason that House Shuttle’s retirement in 2011. “This offers us further capabilities, as a result of we’re all the time in search of backups,” NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson stated at a Could 3 press convention. SpaceX has dominated U.S. human spaceflight for years, so this could possibly be the start of a broader taking part in subject.
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