Second Boeing Starliner Flight Test Launched to Space Station

Second Boeing Starliner Flight Test Launched to Space Station

In this illustration, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner Commercial Crew spacecraft approaches a docking port of the International Space Station.
In this illustration, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner Commercial Crew spacecraft approaches a docking port of the International Space Station. Photo credit: Boeing

By Bob Granath

The second uncrewed flight test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft lifted off to prove the system could safely carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. It is another step toward NASA having two different spacecraft to send astronauts from American soil to the orbiting laboratory.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V lifts off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket is boosting Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 to the International Space Station.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V lifts off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket is boosting Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 to the International Space Station. Photo credit: SpaceAgeChronicle.com/Bob Granath

The Starliner lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:54 p.m. EDT on May 19, 2022. With Starliner now in orbit plans call for the OFT-2 mission to test the end-to-end capabilities of the spacecraft from launch through rendezvous, docking, re-entry and landing.

Following successful completion of the OFT-2 mission, NASA and Boeing will determine a launch opportunity for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, or CFT, Starliner’s first flight with astronauts aboard. OFT-2 and CFT will provide valuable data toward NASA certifying Boeing’s crew transportation system for regular flights with astronauts to and from the space station.

Joel Montalbano, manager of the International Space Station Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, noted that once Starliner is docked, it would be the first time there will be two different U.S. crew vehicles at the International Space Station.

“This adds to the robustness of the International Space Station Program by allowing us to have redundancy in the (crew launch) process and maximize our use of this great space station,” he said during a pre-launch news conference. “It’s a major stepping-stone for Boeing and NASA as we add another crew provider.”

A new service module is mated to a Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew module to form a complete spacecraft on March 12, 2022, in Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
A new service module is mated to a Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew module to form a complete spacecraft on March 12, 2022, in Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: Boeing

During a pre-launch news conference on May 18, 2022, Kennedy Space Center Director Janet Petro noted that 2022 is already shaping up to be a busy year for the premier, multi-user spaceport.

“We have something like 65 launches on our manifest this year,” she said. “Earlier this morning, we launched our 20th (rocket) of this calendar year. I am really excited for the Starliner launch and to be able to support the entire Boeing team and get that second capability of transporting our astronauts to fan from the space station.”

For more than 20 years, the space-based outpost is humanity’s testbed for exploration and a springboard for future missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

On April 20, 2022, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster is hoisted into the Vertical Integration Facility adjacent to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket will launch the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on its Orbital Flight Test-2.
On April 20, 2022, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster is hoisted into the Vertical Integration Facility adjacent to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket will launch the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on its Orbital Flight Test-2. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance

NASA and Boeing agreed to stand down from a launch attempt during August of last year when teams determined that not all Starliner propulsion system valves were in the proper configuration for launch. During the investigation, engineers determined nitric acid was created when the oxidizer propellant reacted with ambient moisture. The acid formed corrosion that sealed the valves.

Mark Nappi, Boeing’s vice president and program manager for the CST-100 Starliner Program, explained the NASA-Boeing team is convinced the problem has been resolved.

“There has been a series of integrated systems tests on the crew module that has provided confidence that it is ready,” he said.

Steve Stich, NASA’s manager of the Commercial Crew Program at the Kennedy Space Center, noted that he was proud of the NASA-Boeing Starliner group that worked the problems over the last eight months.

“The Starliner team’s dedication to developing effective remedies and corrective action after our first OFT-2 launch attempt demonstrates their continued commitment to safely flying NASA crews for years to come,” he said.

Starliner’s first flight test, Orbital Flight Test, or OFT, was in December 2019. After the mission, a joint NASA-Boeing Independent Review Team was formed to evaluate computer software problems that prevented rendezvous and docking with the space station.

Read more about OFT.

The Boeing Starliner spacecraft for Orbital Flight Test-2 departs the company’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 4, 2022. It is being transported to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station where it will be mounted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft for Orbital Flight Test-2 departs the company’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 4, 2022. It is being transported to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station where it will be mounted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Photo credit: NASA

“Closing all of the Independent Review Team findings for the software and communications systems is a huge milestone for the Commercial Crew Program,” Stich said.

NASA selected Boeing to build their CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX the Crew Dragon to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to low-Earth orbit through the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. SpaceX began launching crews to the International Space Station in May 2020 with the NASA-SpaceX Demo-2.

OFT-2 Preparations

Boeing's Starliner is mounted on top of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in preparation for Orbital Flight Test-2.
Boeing’s Starliner is mounted on top of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in preparation for Orbital Flight Test-2. Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux

The week of April 20, 2022, ULA began stacking the Atlas V rocket at the Vertical Integration Facility, or VIF, at the Cape’s Space Launch Complex-41. On May 4, 2022, teams from Boeing transported Starliner from the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at Kennedy to the VIF for mating with the launch vehicle.

During OFT-2, plans call for Starliner to check out its unique vision-based navigation system to autonomously dock with the space station. The spacecraft also will deliver more than 500 pounds of cargo and crew supplies.

The capsule will have one passenger in the commander’s seat, “Rosie the Rocketeer,” an anthropometric test device. According to Boeing’s Melanie Weber, subsystem lead for Crew and Cargo Accommodations for the Commercial Crew Program, during the first Orbital Flight Test. Rosie provided “hundreds of data points about what astronauts experience during flight.”

Teams again strapped Rosie into her seat with the device wearing a Boeing launch an entry spacesuit. Rosie the Rocketeer is named after “Rosie the Riveter,” made popular during World War II. A Boeing news release notes that Rosie “is a salute to women who blazed a trail in aerospace and human spaceflight.”

“Rosie the Rocketeer,” Boeing’s human-like test device, is seated in the commander’s seat inside the company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for its second uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2. During Rosie’s first flight, OFT, the device provided hundreds of data points about what astronauts will experience during flight.
“Rosie the Rocketeer,” Boeing’s human-like test device, is seated in the commander’s seat inside the company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for its second uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2. During Rosie’s first flight, OFT, the device provided hundreds of data points about what astronauts will experience during flight. Photo credit: Boeing

The Boeing Starliner spacecraft will spend five to 10 days docked to the space station before undocking and returning to Earth, touching down on one of five designated landing zones in the western United States.

If post-flight reviews show that Starliner’s second mission met the necessary objectives, NASA and Boeing will move forward to fly Starliner’s first crewed mission. NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore, Mike Fincke and a third crewmember to be named later will be on board for the Crew Flight Test to the space station.

“We are looking at our next mission we have a schedule that supports being ready by the end of this year,” Nappi said. “We understand that we will learn a lot from OFT-2 and other variables will dictate the final schedule.”

This illustration depicts the CST-100 Starliner’s drogue and main parachute deployment followed by jettisoning the heat shield for inflation of landing bags to soften touchdown on land in the western United States.
This illustration depicts the CST-100 Starliner’s drogue and main parachute deployment followed by jettisoning the heat shield for inflation of landing bags to soften touchdown on land in the western United States. Photo credit: Boeing

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Boeing’s Starliner Heads for Rendezvous with Space Station

Check out this short NASA video of the liftoff of Orbital Flight Test-2. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on May 19, 2022.

Video courtesy of NASA

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