NASA has announced plans to launch the first manned test flight of the Boeing Starliner capsule in April. The spacecraft has gone through a difficult development and testing process, but is set to become a second US-based crew transport vehicle alongside the SpaceX Crew Dragon.
The first manned flight of the troubled Boeing Starliner is scheduled to take off in April this year, mid to late in the month. Dubbed the Crew Flight Test (CFT), the mission is the final test before the Starliner can go into regular service to ferry the crew from Earth to the International Space Station (ISS) and back.
The CFT launch will be from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Two NASA astronauts will travel on the flight, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, in an eight-day mission that will travel to the ISS, dock there and then return to Earth.
This will be the Starliner’s third orbital test flight, following two previous unmanned flights in 2019 and 2022. The first of these flights, dubbed OFT-1, did not reach the International Space Station as planned and subsequent investigations revealed a variety of problems with the capsule . The second orbital flight OFT-2 was more successful with only a small problem in the process of docking with the ISS.
In a press conference, NASA official Steve Stitch said that NASA and Boeing are looking forward to the launch as around 80% of the preparatory work has already been completed.
Regarding the previous problem the Starliner had with a value failing in Florida’s high humidity conditions, NASA said the components in the Starliner had been adjusted to protect against the problem reoccurring and she was confident that the solution would last.
Another way to protect the flight from moisture is to only fill the vehicle with fuel within 60 days of launch to prevent the fuel from corroding valves. “We’re a lot more confident today with the mitigation that we’ve done with the flush systems and the port cover so we don’t get that kind of moisture into the valve, but we still have that 60 day policy,” said Mark Nappi, Vice President and Program Manager for Starliner at Boeing.
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