Boeing Co. revealed on Wednesday that it had set a date for the first launch of its Starliner spacecraft with a human crew onboard. The launch will be conducted no earlier than early November at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Starliner is a Crew Capsule designed to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. However, despite the upcoming launch, the company still has to complete a series of parachute tests before its spacecraft can transport a human crew safely.
The crewed mission will be conducted with NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Nicole Mann and Barry Wilmore aboard. This launch will mark the first time that a craft designed and built by Boeing will transport human crew to the ISS, following SpaceX’s historic launch of its Crew Dragon capsule in May.
In Boeing’s announcement, it noted that the test sequence for the launch was “moving along smoothly,” but that it must complete parachute tests that measure the effectiveness of the Starliner’s three main parachutes and four orbital maneuvering and attitude control engines. In the statement, the company specified that it was “waiting on each test’s results before proceeding to the next test.”
If the parachute tests are successful, Boeing can begin to prep the Starliner for launch. The company has previously stated that it must successfully complete a pad abort test and two uncrewed test flights before it can begin ferrying a crew to the ISS. Despite the delays encountered, the company and NASA remain confident that the Starliner will be operational in the near future.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is looking to conduct its first crewed launch around the same time as Boeing. It is currently preparing for a series of “Static Fire” tests in preparation for its launch. If all goes according to plan, this could mean that the month of November could see the first crewed launch from either SpaceX or Boeing, signaling a new and exciting era for human space exploration.
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