by Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft successfully rolled off to its Florida launch pad early Wednesday (May 18), setting the stage for a crucial test flight for NASA this week.
The Starliner spacecraft, perched on an Atlas V rocket built by the United Launch Alliance, rolled to its pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of a planned launch to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled for Thursday, May 19 at 6:54 pm EDT (22:54 GMT).
Boeing’s Starliner is launching on the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2) mission to demonstrate that the space taxi is ready to begin ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the space station. The mission is critical and a Boeing has attempted to fly twice before.
Live updates: Boeing Starliner Orbital Flight Test Mission 2 to the ISS
In December 2019, Boeing launched its first Starliner test flight, called OFT-1, but was unable to reach the International Space Station due to software problems that prevented the capsule from reaching the proper orbit. By July 2021, Boeing was ready to try again, but stuck valves in the spacecraft’s service module prevented launch.
Since then, Boeing has changed the Starliner service module and is confident it has a fix for the valve problem that thwarted last year’s launch attempt. Apparently NASA is too, as the space agency and Boeing cleared the launch of the OFT-2 Starliner mission in a recent flight readiness review.
Boeing is one of two companies with multimillion-dollar contracts to transport NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The other company is SpaceX, which has been flying astronaut missions to the station for NASA since May 2020.
If all goes well, Boeing’s OFT-2 Starliner spacecraft will lift off Thursday night and arrive at the International Space Station on Friday night (May 20) for a roughly five-day stay in the orbiting laboratory. The astronauts are expected to open the capsule hatches a day later, on Saturday (May 21).
At the end of the mission, Starliner will return to Earth for a planned landing at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico like its OFT-1 predecessor. Starliner uses parachutes, airbags, and retrorockets to cushion its landing on the ground.
Officials from the US Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 70% chance of favorable weather for the launch of Boeing’s Starliner on Thursday. You can watch the launch on Space.com, beginning at 6 pm EDT (2200 GMT).
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