The Verge By Loren Grush 11/4/2019
A good showing for the spacecraft’s abort systemToday, Boeing tested a key system on its new passenger space capsule, the CST-100 Starliner, a major milestone that gets the company ready for the vehicle’s first flight to space. Today’s test fired up the emergency abort engines on the capsule, which are designed to carry the spacecraft to safety if there is some major issue during a future launch. The entire test lasted for just about 95 seconds.
For the last five years, Boeing has been developing the CST-100 Starliner to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The vehicle is meant to launch on top of an Atlas V rocket, which is manufactured by the United Launch Alliance, and carry up to seven crew members to orbit at a time. But before today, the Starliner had yet to actually see space — or see much air at all.
In fact, today’s event was the vehicle’s first big test flight for Starliner. Boeing performed what is known as a pad abort test, which demonstrated Starliner’s ability to escape a dangerous situation during a launch. The spacecraft is equipped with four launch abort engines that can ignite if the rocket carrying the capsule starts to break apart on the launchpad or just after takeoff. These engines carry the spacecraft up and away from the malfunctioning rocket, before Starliner lands using parachutes. Boeing says that Starliner’s engines can kick into action either on the launchpad or during the ascent to space.
More:
https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/4/20936316/boeing-starliner-pad-abort-test-new-mexico-safety-test
