Boeing is targeting 25 March for the launch of its commercial space capsule called Starliner's second uncrewed flight test to prove the system is ready to fly crew missions for NASA to the International Space Station (ISS).
Boeing's Orbital Flight Test-2, or OFT-2OFT-2, mission will launch Starliner on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
It will dock to the space station and return to land in the western US about a week later as part of an end-to-end test flight to prove the system is ready to fly crew, NASA said in a blog post this week.
Boeing had signed a contract with NASA's Commercial Crew Program to fly operational missions to and from the space station with Starliner in 2014.
Its debut uncrewed orbital flight mission in 2019 did not go exactly as planned, requiring it to make another try before putting astronauts on board for the crewed flight test.
A NASA probe into Boeing's commercial space capsule that failed to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) in December revealed numerous software bugs that should have been found in internal testing and not during an unmanned space flight.
For the new mission, Boeing recently completed the formal requalification of Starliner's OFT-2 flight software.
Teams conducted a full software review and several series of tests to verify Starliner's software meets design specifications.
Boeing also will complete an end-to-end simulation of the OFT-2 test flight using flight hardware and final versions of Starliner's flight software to model the vehicle's expected behaviour before flight, NASA said.
(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
Comments ↓
An Appeal...
Dear Reader,
As you are no doubt aware, Swarajya is a media product that is directly dependent on support from its readers in the form of subscriptions. We do not have the muscle and backing of a large media conglomerate nor are we playing for the large advertisement sweep-stake.
Our business model is you and your subscription. And in challenging times like these, we need your support now more than ever.
We deliver over 10 - 15 high quality articles with expert insights and views. From 7AM in the morning to 10PM late night we operate to ensure you, the reader, get to see what is just right.
Becoming a Patron or a subscriber for as little as Rs 1200/year is the best way you can support our efforts.