After a month of delays, Boeing and NASA's crew flight test (CFT) mission for the Starliner spacecraft finally took to the skies from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida earlier today. Starliner CFT is the first crewed flight for Boeing's ship that has been contracted by NASA to take crew to the International Space Station (ISS). If its mission is successful, then it will join SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft as the second American ship capable of crewed missions from U.S. soil.
NASA Astronauts Set To Reach ISS Tomorrow After Starliner Lifts Off To Space
Flying the ship are NASA astronauts Butch Willmore and Suni Williams. Both are human spaceflight veterans and have spent hundreds of days in space. Williams is the more experienced astronaut, and her collective missions have seen the Ohio native spend more than three hundred days in space. Her last mission was in 2012, and according to a presenter in the live stream today, Williams had cried when she left space back then.
More than a decade later the astronauts are headed to space after having to spend a patient few weeks in quarantine. Crew destined for space are isolated from humans on Earth to prevent any contamination inside the strictly controlled ISS environment. Williams and Wilmore have been waiting to fly for more than a month now and have been in quarantine throughout multiple CFT delays.
The launch itself was a picture perfect affair, and the Atlas V successfully crossed the point of maximum dynamic pressure close to a minute after lift off. The rocket's solid boosters shut down a little over two minutes into the flight, and footage from the live stream showed the curvature of the Earth in the background after the boosters jettisoned three minutes into the flight.
A little over five minutes after launch, the second stage Centaur's engines lit up to continue the journey. At this point, the Starliner's protective cover for the forward hatch also separated from the ship. Wilmore and Williams will spend a little over a day inside the ship before they dock at the station. During docking, the forward hatch connects to the ISS to allow the astronauts to move between the two vehicles.
After docking, the astronauts will spend a week in space before they return to Earth. During the flight, Boeing had programmed several abort modes into Starliner that would guide the ship to specific landing sites depending on its position. Unlike SpaceX's Crew Dragon, which can only land in water, Starliner's primary landing profile is geared for a land landing. The ship can also land in the water, and a land landing speeds up the time for crew access.
The delays also allowed NASA to ship crucial components for the ISS's water filtration system. Along with these, the astronauts are taking other cargo to space, including food, medical supplies, tools and other items. A successful CFT and a subsequent Starliner human rating will see the ship spend months in space. Spacecraft are limited by their systems, such as solar panels, when it comes to mission duration, and SpaceX's Dragon often spends six months docked with the ISS.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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