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NASA Sets Coverage for Boeing Starliner’s First Crewed Launch, Docking

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Elderberry:
NASA.gov by Tiernan P. Doyle 4/29/2024

NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, which will carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to and from the International Space Station.

Launch of the ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket and Boeing Starliner spacecraft is targeted for 10:34 p.m. EDT Monday, May 6, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The flight test will carry Wilmore and Williams to the space station for about a week to test the Starliner spacecraft and its subsystems before NASA certifies the transportation system for rotational missions to the orbiting laboratory for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

Starliner will dock to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at 12:48 a.m., Wednesday, May 8.

The deadline for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch has passed. The agency’s media credentialing policy is available online. For questions about media accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.

NASA’s mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):

More: https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-boeing-starliners-first-crewed-launch-docking/?linkId=414265239

mountaineer:
I just did a quick search. There have been threads posted here about Starliner for the past 5 years or more. I hope the doors don't fall off.

Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Although Boeing got $4.2 billion to develop an astronaut capsule and SpaceX only got $2.6 billion, SpaceX finished 4 years sooner.
Note, the crew capsule design of Dragon 2 has almost nothing in common with Dragon 1.
Too many non-technical managers at Boeing.
1:13 PM · May 6, 2024

Eric Berger
@SciGuySpace
Here's my deep dive into why Starliner is seven years late.
From arstechnica.com: The surprise is not that Boeing lost commercial crew but that it finished at all; "The structural inefficiency was a huge deal."
8:15 AM · May 6, 2024

Elderberry:
Officials describe telltale ‘buzz’ that led to last-minute scrub of Boeing Starliner’s crewed launch

CNN By Jackie Wattles 5/7/2024

 Two NASA astronauts had reached the final hours before a long-awaited launch attempt aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule, the first crewed mission of the new spacecraft.

But the mission was scrubbed about two hours before the countdown clock hit zero because of an issue with a valve on the Atlas V rocket, a workhorse vehicle built in Alabama by United Launch Alliance that will fire the Starliner capsule to space.

Launch officials do not yet know when they will make a second attempt to get Starliner off the ground, though they’re now targeting no earlier than May 10.

“Good things are worth waiting for, and we’ll get a chance to see that rocket and spacecraft (get) off the pad here soon,” said NASA’s associate administrator for space operations Ken Bowersox during a news briefing Monday night. “We still have to gather more data. We don’t have a definitive plan for you yet — that will come as soon as we can provide it.”

The valve at issue is located on the Atlas V rocket’s second stage, or the upper portion of the vehicle that’s attached to the Starliner spacecraft.

Occasionally, valves can get into a position where they start to “buzz” by opening and closing rapidly, said Tory Bruno, the CEO of United Launch Alliance.

Some buzzing is OK, but too much could cause the valve to fail, Bruno said. And now engineers need to determine whether the component opened and closed enough to cause concern.

Officials will spend a day evaluating the issue and determining whether the valve needs to be replaced and the rocket needs to be rolled back off the launchpad.

More: https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/06/world/nasa-space-launch-boeing-starliner-scn/index.html

Gefn:
 :bkmk:

Elderberry:
Boeing Starliner to make another attempt at crewed flight test Friday

UPI By Chris Benson 5/7/2024

 Starliner, the spacecraft Boeing designed to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, is set to possibly take off Friday after a mechanical issue scrubbed Monday's attempt to take off.

A launch is set to possibly take place on Friday at 9 p.m. EDT barring any unforeseen issues.

Boeing's long-delayed first crewed Starliner mission was scheduled to launch Monday night at 10:34 p.m. EDT from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for a 10-day test flight to certify the spacecraft for future manned space missions.

More: https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2024/05/07/1811715096917/

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