On July 30, 2021, Boeing’s Starliner Crew Capsule is scheduled to launch to the ISS. If all goes well, this uncrewed mission will pave the way for crewed missions later this year…and prove that Boeing and NASA have what it takes to reinvent commercial human spaceflight.

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Boeing is in a unique position. It’s one of the most well-established aviation companies in the biz, and also one of a number of private companies vying to be a leader in commercial spaceflight.

In 2014, the company was awarded a massive contract by NASA to send crewed flight missions up to the ISS. But it wasn’t the only one— right around the same time, SpaceX got a similar contract from NASA…and they hit the ground RUNNING.

On May 30, 2020, SpaceX became the first ever private company to send a crew to the ISS. It also marked the first time that astronauts had launched into space from US soil since NASA ended its Space Shuttle program in 2011.

Starliner will ride atop the Atlas V rocket. Its main engine delivers nearly 4 mega-Newtons of thrust at sea level…and each of its two boosters deliver roughly 1.5 mega-Newtons of thrust at liftoff.

Unlike SpaceX’s crew capsule, which lands in the water, Boeing’s Starliner is designed to land on solid ground using a series of parachutes and airbags.

#NASA #space #ISS #Boeing #SpaceX #seeker #science #countdowntolaunch

Read More:

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft just met its rocket for NASA test launch July 30
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"The mission, called Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2), will be Boeing's second attempt at launching its new astronaut taxi to the International Space Station. The CST-100 Starliner spacecraft was stacked atop its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on July 17 at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, marking a key milestone ahead of the mission's launch next week."

Boeing’s Starliner System Completes Full Space Station Mission Simulation
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"Gearing up for the program’s first AMR took several months of preparation configuring hardware and software, routing communications channels, mapping simulated sensor data, verifying flight procedures, and completing weeks of dry runs."

Boeing’s spacecraft test failure points to broader problems
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"This week, a NASA safety panel revealed a second software error that could have led to erroneous thruster firings “with the potential for a catastrophic spacecraft failure,” a member of the panel said. Boeing also had difficulty maintaining a communication link between the spacecraft in orbit and ground control, which made operating the autonomous vehicle more difficult."

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