Boeing’s Starliner space plane is launched in an important test flight into orbit According to Reuters
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft was prepared to launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket during its second unmanned test flight to the International Space Station, at Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA May 18, 2022. REUTERS / Joe Skippe
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By Joey Roulette
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – Boeing’s new Starliner capsule was launched on Thursday in a pilotless test flight to the International Space Station, aiming to give the company a much-needed success after more than two years of delays. and costly technical obstacles.
The teardrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner exploded shortly before 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying atop an Atlas (NYSE:V) rocket operated by the Boeing- provided by Lockheed Martin United. Launch Alliance (ULA).
About 30 minutes after takeoff, the Starliner reached its original intended orbit, after separating from the Atlas V rocket in the upper stage and hurling itself toward orbit to reach a later rendezvous with the space station.
That was the moment during Starliner’s previous test flight in late 2019, a software glitch affected the spacecraft’s ability to approach the space station.
If all goes according to plan, the ship will arrive at the station in about 24 hours and dock with the research outpost orbiting about 400 miles (400 km) above Earth on Friday night.
The Boeing (NYSE:) plane will spend four to five days attached to the space station before unloading and flying back to Earth, with a parachute cushioned landing in the White Sands desert, New Mexico.
A successful mission would take the long-delayed Starliner spacecraft one more important step toward providing NASA with a reliable second means of ferrying astronauts to and from the space station.
Since the resumption of crewed flights to orbit from US soil in 2020, nine years after the space shuttle program ended, the US space agency has had to rely entirely on Falcon 9 rockets and Falcon 9 rockets. Crew Dragon capsule from Elon Musk’s company SpaceX to fly NASA astronauts.
Previously, the only other option to reach the orbiting laboratory was to hitch a ride on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
NASA director Bill Nelson told Reuters hours before takeoff was important for the country.
Thursday’s launch also comes at a critical time for Boeing as the Chicago-based company tries to weather successive crises in its jet and defense unit businesses. its space. The Starliner program alone has forced Boeing to receive $595 million in fees since its first unmanned orbital test flight failed in 2019.
PAYLOAD & MODEL PASSENGER
Starliner does not fly to an empty orbit. The capsule carries a research dummy, oddly named Rosie the Rocketeer, to collect data on the condition of the cockpit during the journey, plus 500 pounds of cargo to deliver to the station’s crew spaceflight – three NASA astronauts, one European Space Agency astronaut from Italy and three Russian cosmonauts
Two of the US astronauts will be tasked with boarding the shuttle during Starliner’s stay to measure its interior environment and unload.
Thursday’s launch marked a repeat of a 2019 test mission that failed to successfully rendezvous with the space station because of aircraft software glitches. Subsequent problems with the Starliner’s propulsion system, supplied by Aerojet Rocketdyne, prompted Boeing to scrap its capsule launch attempt last summer.
The spacecraft continued to operate for another nine months while the two companies argued over what caused its fuel valves to close and which company was responsible for fixing them, Reuters reported last week.
Boeing said it has since addressed the problem with an interim solution and plans to redesign the fuel valve system of its post-flight propulsion this week.
The Starliner was developed under a $4.5 billion fixed-price contract by NASA to provide the US space agency with a second path to low-Earth orbit, along with SpaceX.
If the second trip to orbit is successful, Starliner could fly its first group of astronauts in the fall, although NASA officials warn that the timeframe could be pushed back.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Mike Fincke have been assigned to the Starliner’s first crewed mission. But NASA officials, reluctant to force two astronauts into a flight for which the launch date is uncertain, said Wednesday the mission could carry at least two of the four astronauts currently in flight training. Starliner test.
