by CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — After years of delays and setbacks, Boeing is about to send astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA.
This is the first Boeing Starliner capsule flight with a crew on board, a pair of NASA pilots checked out the spacecraft during the test drive and a week stay at the space station.
NASA turned to US companies for astronaut tours after the space shuttles were retired. Elon Musk has made nine taxi flights for NASA since 2020, while Boeing has only managed a pair of unoccupied test flights.
Boeing boss Mark Nappi wished Starliner was further forward. “There’s no doubt about that, but we’re here now.”
The company’s long-awaited astronaut exhibition is due to take place on Monday night.
Provided this test goes well, NASA will alternate between Boeing and SpaceX to get astronauts to and from the space station.
Check out the newest tour and cruise shakedown:
THE CAPSULE
White with black and blue trim, the Boeing Starliner capsule is about 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 15 feet (4.5 meters) in diameter. It can accommodate up to seven people, although there are usually four NASA crews. The company decided on the Starliner name almost ten years ago, a twist on Boeing’s early Stratoliner name and the current Dreamliner.
Boeing’s two previous Starliner test flights had no humans on board. The first, in 2019, was plagued by software trouble so severe that its empty capsule couldn’t reach the station until a second attempt in 2022. Then last summer, a flimsy parachute and flammable tape turned up that to be fixed or removed.
THE TEAM
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are retired Navy captains who spent months aboard the space station years ago. They joined the test flight after the original crew bowed out as the delay grew. Wilmore, 61, is a former fighter pilot from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, and Williams, 58, is a helicopter pilot from Needham, Massachusetts. Both were involved in the development of the capsule and insist that Starliner is ready for prime time, or they would not be involved in the launch.
“We’re not putting our heads in the sand,” Williams told the Associated Press. “Sure, Boeing had problems. But we are the QA (quality assurance). Our eyes are on the spacecraft.”
THE TEST FLIGHT
Starliner will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This will be the first time astronauts will ride on Atlas from NASA’s Project Mercury, starting with John Glenn when he became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. Sixty-two years later, this will be the 100th launch of the Atlas V, it is used to lift satellites as well as spacecraft.
“We are very careful with every mission. We are very, duper, duper careful” with human missions, said Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Starliner should reach the space station in about 26 hours. The eyes of the seven station residents will be peeled on the approaching capsule. “The arrival of the new vehicle is a big deal. You leave nothing to chance,” NASA astronaut Michael Barratt told the AP from orbit. West.
STARLINER vs. DRAGON
Both companies’ capsules are designed to be autonomous and reusable. This Starliner is the same one that made the first test flight in 2019. Unlike SpaceX Dragons, Starliner has traditional hand controls and switches alongside touchscreens and, according to the astronauts, is more like an Orion capsule NASA for moon missions. In short, Wilmore and Williams will take manual control to eject the systems on their way to the space station.
NASA gave Boeing, a longtime space contractor, more than $4 billion to develop the capsule, while SpaceX received $2.6 billion. SpaceX was already in the station delivery business and it was just a matter of refurbishing its cargo capsule for the crew. While SpaceX uses the boss Teslas to bring astronauts to the launch pad, Boeing will use a more traditional “starship” equipped with a video screen that Wilmore said will play “Top Gun: Maverick.”
One big difference at the end of the flight: Starliner lands on the ground with deflated airbags, while Dragon splashes into the sea.
THE FUTURE
Boeing has committed to six Starliner flights for NASA after this one, which will take the company to the planned end of the station in 2030. Boeing’s Nappi is reluctant to discuss other potential customers until this crewed inaugural flight is over. But the company has said that the fifth seat will be available for private clients. SpaceX periodically sells seats to tycoons and even countries that want to get their citizens to the station for a few weeks.
Coming soon: Sierra Space’s mini-shuttle, Dream Chaser, will deliver cargo to the station later this year or later, before taking on passengers.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Section is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science and Media Education Group. The AP is solely responsible for all matters.
