by Rival companies Boeing and SpaceX are gearing up for a busy week, with each team set to launch their rockets and spacecraft on crucial test flights.
Boeing will on Wednesday try for the third time to send two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station aboard its Starliner capsule. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:52 am ET from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The next day, SpaceX will launch the fourth uncrewed test flight of its Starship megarocket. Thursday’s launch will take place at SpaceX’s Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas, with a target launch window that opens at 8 a.m. ET.
The two companies are seen as spaceflight rivals, but the launches this week have different goals. The Boeing Starliner spacecraft was developed in partnership with NASA, to transport its astronauts to and from the space station – a commercial service that SpaceX has already been operating for the agency since 2020.
Boeing’s third attempt to send astronauts to space
If Boeing’s first crewed test flight is successful, it would pave the way for NASA’s Starliner capsule to launch routine flights to the space station, challenging SpaceX’s dominance.
On board the Starliner will be NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who plan to spend about a week at the space station before returning to Earth and pulling up to New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range.
Starliner’s last launch attempt was aborted on Saturday with less than four minutes to go before liftoff, after one of the computers controlling the Atlas V rocket triggered an automatic abort. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the rocket.
This was Boeing’s second launch attempt. The first one, on May 6, was scuttled with about two hours to go in the countdown due to an issue with a valve on the rocket. A helium leak was later found in the Starliner capsule’s propulsion system, causing further delays.
Overall Boeing’s Starliner program has been plagued by delays and technical glitches. On the spacecraft’s first uncrewed flight in 2019, software problems forced mission controllers to cut the trip short. The company’s next attempt was then repeatedly delayed by fuel valve issues. It wasn’t until 2022 that Boeing completed an unmanned flight to and from the space station.
SpaceX’s Starship could carry NASA astronauts to the moon
Thursday’s Starship test flight is intended to demonstrate technologies and techniques that will be central to future missions to the moon.
Starship is the most powerful rocket ever developed and is designed to be completely reusable. The system is expected to play an important role in NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon: NASA has chosen Starship to transport astronauts to the lunar surface in the Artemis III mission, which could launch in 2026.
SpaceX also hopes to use Starship to eventually reach Mars.
NASA is separately developing its own Space Launch System megarocket and Orion spacecraft for missions to the moon. As part of the Artemis program, NASA envisions regular missions to establish a base camp on the surface of the moon before eventually proceeding to Mars.
SpaceX made steady progress with each of the three previous Starship tests. The rocket’s maiden flight ended in April 2023 when the booster exploded several minutes after liftoff. The second Starship launch in November achieved several milestones, including the separation of the first stage booster and the advanced spacecraft, but the company lost contact with the vehicle shortly thereafter.
The third Starship test flight in March successfully got the spacecraft into orbit, but the vehicle was lost as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere. However, SpaceX said it was able to complete several technology demonstrations, including transferring propellant between two of the spacecraft’s tanks in orbit and opening and closing the Starship’s payload bay in space – which could eventually be used to launch satellites.
“This final test provided valuable data for ship-to-ship transfer of propellants that will allow missions such as astronauts to return to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis program,” SpaceX said in a statement.
On Starship’s upcoming fourth test flight, SpaceX aims to show that the spacecraft’s advanced stage and the rocket’s first stage booster, known as Super Heavy, can make controlled, safe landings on Earth.
During the final test flight, a planned burn failed in the landing process, SpaceX has said, and the Super Heavy booster ended up breaking up over the Gulf of Mexico. This time, the company hopes to successfully execute the landing burn, achieving a “soft flash” of the booster in the Gulf of Mexico. It also wants to nail a “controlled entry” of the Starship vehicle through Earth’s atmosphere before splashing down in the Indian Ocean.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
