Boeing’s Starliner is about to be launched on the market.
NASA and Boeing executives told reporters that the first crewed Starliner mission, in which the capsule will carry two astronauts to the International Space Station, is heading toward its historic May 6 launch date.
NASA and Boeing concluded the capsule is ready for launch after completing a critical flight test check Thursday. Barring any problems, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will board the Starliner on the evening of May 6 and fly into space on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
About 24 hours later, the two astronauts will arrive at the ISS, where they will stay for about a week. Starliner remains docked at the station; The duo will then return to Earth. A total of five parachutes will slow Starliner from ultrafast orbital speeds to allow for a soft landing somewhere in the western United States
This will be 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 are unable to meet the May 6th date, there will be additional launch opportunities on May 7th, 10th and 11th.
The importance of the mission cannot be underestimated. NASA launched the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) in 2011 to purchase astronaut transportation services from the private sector. The agency selected SpaceX and NASA in a multibillion-dollar contract. But unlike SpaceX, which has completed all six missions in the original contract and more, Boeing’s Starliner has been severely delayed due to numerous technical problems.
These delays cost Boeing over $1.5 billion in additional costs. The aerospace giant has been hit by a number of other near-disasters recently, with the company facing regulatory scrutiny over mistakes in its commercial aircraft division. Earlier this year it was announced that Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun would step down at the end of 2024.
For NASA, a new spacecraft means doubling America’s astronaut transportation resources and introducing a much-needed level of redundancy to the agency’s human spaceflight program. If Boeing passes this test, Starliner will receive its final certification and can begin regular missions under the CCP contract.
NASA determined that the probability of a crew loss on this Starliner mission is 1 in 295, which is higher than NASA’s required probability of 1 in 270. (A NASA representative did not have corresponding data for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.)
“The lives of our crew members Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are at stake,” said NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free. “We don’t take this lightly at all.”