CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – The new Starliner spacecraft is ready for its first-ever astronaut launch on Monday (May 6), Boeing and NASA officials announced today (May 3).
Barring bad weather or last-minute technical problems, Starliner was cleared to send two experienced NASA astronauts and former U.S. Navy test pilots to the International Space Station (ISS). Aboard this mission, known as Crew Flight Test (CFT), will be Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Pilot Suni Williams.
The duo will complete last-minute training items and quarantine here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center ahead of their historic launch, scheduled for Mondauy at 10:34 PM EDT (0234 GMT on Tuesday, May 7) from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral space station. The coverage will be live here on Space.com, via NASA Television.
“We had the launch readiness assessment and everyone said ‘go’ to proceed,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said at a news conference today.
CFT will not only mark the first time that Boeing’s Starliner has carried astronauts, but also the first time that United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V rocket has taken on that task. The rollout of the stacked rocket will take place tomorrow (May 4).
Related: I have flown Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in 4 different simulators. This is what I learned (video, photos)
Pending CFT’s success, Boeing will work with SpaceX to send operational, six-month crewed missions to the ISS. Both companies received commercial crew contracts from NASA in 2014, with Boeing’s valued at $4.2 billion at the time, compared to SpaceX’s at $2.6 billion.
SpaceX has since launched 12 crewed missions to the ISS, including a test flight in 2020, while Starliner’s first crewed attempt has been delayed by several issues. The first unmanned flight of the Boeing vehicle to the ISS, which was launched in December 2019, could not reach its destination due to technical problems. The pandemic and the need to address the issues that arose during that first flight delayed Starliner’s second unmanned test flight until May 2022. That effort was successful, reaching the ISS and meeting all its other major objectives.
CFT was then scheduled to launch in 2023 – until more critical issues came to light, such as problems with the capsule’s main parachutes and flammable tape on the capsule’s wiring. Everyone has emphasized that these issues are behind the team, and CFT is ready to get to work. If this first astronaut flight goes well, Starliner’s debut operational crewed mission should follow in 2025.
NASA and Boeing teams conducted a flight readiness assessment for CFT last week. That analysis identified two issues that required more attention: a valve needed to be replaced on the launch pad, and engineers wanted to further study contingencies for jettisoning Starliner’s forward heat shield during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
That work has now been completed to the teams’ satisfaction, Stich said today.
Related: The First Boeing Starliner Astronauts Are Ready to Launch to the ISS for NASA (Exclusive)
Starliner-1, the capsule’s first operational mission, will send three astronauts to the ISS: NASA’s Mike Fincke (who also serves as the CFT’s backup astronaut), in addition to NASA’s Scott Tingle and Canadian Space’s Joshua Kutryk Agency.
But that depends on the success of CFT, during which Williams and Wilmore will manually pilot the spacecraft several times, test emergency start-up and communications procedures, and otherwise put the Starliner spacecraft to the test for future missions.
NASA’s vision is that SpaceX’s Dragon, Starliner and Russian Soyuz spacecraft will continue to send astronaut crews to the ISS for years to come. A selection of NASA astronauts continue to use Soyuz for policy and backup reasons, and Russia has committed to sending crews to the skies until at least 2028.
Although Starliner has not yet manifested itself for private missions, Boeing will fly about six or seven missions for NASA over the ISS’s nominal lifespan through 2030. A handful of private space stations are in the works, so there could still be destinations for Starliner. Dragon and Soyuz after the ISS withdraws.
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