by Boeing manager Mark Nappi has a spacecraft checklist with nearly 90 items.
Nappi is working with NASA to pave the way for a Crew Flight Test (CFT) of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, the first mission with astronauts on board, which is now scheduled to launch on May 6.
Starliner has been in space twice during uncrewed test flights in 2019 and 2022, he said, but the next step is critical: “We put the human in,” Nappi told reporters here at NASA’s Johnson Space Center on March 22.
From launch to landing, through the International Space Station (ISS) dock and re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, the astronauts will ensure that the spacecraft can perform as intended – and can be recovered by a flight stick if automatic systems fail. If successful, the first operational Starliner mission will come up in less than a year.
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CFT is a shorter mission of a week or two, intended to test all systems and procedures with veteran NASA astronauts (and former Navy test pilots) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The duo are the first astronauts to take control of Starliner since Boeing received $4.2 billion to develop commercial ISS crew vehicles from NASA in 2014. (SpaceX, meanwhile, received $2.6 billion. SpaceX’s operational missions for the ISS with astronauts in 2020). )
Getting Starliner ready for astronauts has been delayed by a host of technical issues, such as not reaching the ISS in 2019 due to a software issue, which Boeing, NASA and CFT astronauts say have been resolved.
Developmental flights such as CFT carry their own risks, however, as key systems such as life support have not yet been tested with humans in the spacecraft. That said, NASA has envisioned future ISS rotation missions like SpaceX, which will last six months. The first for Boeing is Starliner-1, which is currently expected to fly in early 2025. On board will be NASA commander Scott Tingle, NASA pilot Michael Fincke and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk.
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Nappi explained various milestones that will be assessed on CFT: crew comfort, human factors (or how the astronauts interact with the systems), spacecraft performance during “dynamic” events such as launch or docking, and a thorough check of systems such as communications, thrusters. , and navigation.
To be fair, he said, all space missions (even on veteran spacecraft) are like this, as NASA continued to make improvements to the 30-year-old space shuttle program even as it neared retirement in 2011 , he noted. “Each mission, you learn something. We expect the same from here,” he said.
Assuming the Starliner CFT and the astronauts return on time in late May, Boeing is ready to jump right into Starliner-1 preparation. “We’ve already started working on those requirements and schedules so we’ll be ready to go when the vehicle comes back at the end of May,” Nappi said.
Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, praised Boeing’s progress in recent years and said the Starliner certification appears to be “on a good path” to completing the requirements check for future operational missions in November or Christmas, assuming shipping is on time. date.
“It has to happen within that time frame to get to spring [2025] slot,” Stich said, referring to the expected launch date of Starliner-1. NASA and Boeing managers will spend the intervening months examining flight performance, to see if CFT’s interim human rating certification can be extended to Starliner-1.
Since NASA and Boeing have been working together for many years, and NASA has already successfully certified SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, Stich emphasized that all players are familiar with the certification process and requirements. In fact, several items have already been closed for Starliner-1: Stich estimated that 17 Starliner-1 requirements have been addressed, even before CFT takes off on the first astronaut’s space mission.
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Further spacecraft upgrades are already underway for future Starliner missions. For example, Stich said, Starliner-1 will have improved software to fly to either port of the Harmony module on the ISS for docking operations (currently, it’s only allowed to dock at the forward port.)
Starliner-2, Nappi said, will fly improved oxidation valves to address issues revealed on the first uncrewed Starliner mission in 2019, called Orbital Flight Test 1. A new purge system will remove unnecessary moisture from the valves, and some of the connector areas are also sealed to reduce moisture access.
Boeing’s contract with NASA calls for missions through Starliner-6. The first three missions are “under construction” Nappi said, and the last three missions have almost all parts in stock. (A selection of parts is on order.) Atlas V launch vehicles are also being prepared for those six flights.
When asked if Boeing would consider flying private missions like SpaceX does, for customers such as Axiom Space and billionaire Jared Isaacman’s Polaris Program, Nappi said NASA’s needs come first. Assuming Boeing meets those expectations, “I think we could start looking at some of the private astronaut missions.”
