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Ahead of the historic first test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft for its Commercial Crew Program (CCP) NASA gave the go ahead for the ship's first crewed flight to space earlier today. Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon were contracted by NASA at the same time for the CCP program, and since then, while SpaceX has secured additional NASA contracts for launches to the International Space Station (ISS), Starliner has lagged and faced multiple delays. NASA's latest go ahead appears to mark the end of this period, and the ship is now ready to launch into space next month if last minute work on Starliner proceeds according to plan.
NASA Gets Ready To Human Rate Starliner Ahead Of First Crewed Launch From The Cape In Florida After Decades
NASA's Steve Stich, who is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Starliner program, shared that the upcoming flight is one of the most historic ones for NASA. Stich shared that Starliner CFT will mark the first time that a crewed flight takes off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in 56 years, the first time three spacecraft will have the capability to take missions to ISS, the first time that a crewed launch is taking place on an Atlas vehicle since the Mercury program in 1963 and the first crewed launch for the Atlas V rocket.
If CFT is successful then NASA will start working to certify the spacecraft to regularly carry humans to space. Stich added that NASA has signed an Interim Human Rating for Starliner's crewed flight test - which is the agency's second such rating in the CCP. Earlier statements from NASA officials have hinted that Starliner could secure a human rating by the end of 2024.
"The road to CFT has been very thorough in terms of doing structural testing on the spacecraft many years ago, hot firing the thrusters, doing a pad abort test in 2019, testing the parachute system, OFT, the orbital flight test one and two, and then so many reviews. Closure of anomalies from the flights, closure of all kinds of problems," commented the NASA official, adding that the Starliner crew's close work with NASA and Boeing also gives him confidence heading into the May launch.
Stich added that the remaining work before the launch covers last-minute fixes to the pad, which include replacing a valve and running a forward heat shield separation analysis. After today's flight test readiness review, NASA will take it "step by step" as it progresses to launch and readies the comprehensive review.
The launch pad valve is for managing liquid oxygen while the heat shield is for the parachute system. NASA is looking at "some of the contingency cases" in the off event that one of the two parachutes that deploy the forward heat shield fails to perform nominally. As part of the analysis it is evaluating them with respect to the latest data for Starliner after a similar analysis for the first time "years ago."
The latest look at the forward heat shield involves ensuring that a ring that covers the forward section of Starliner is able to come off "cleanly with both the parachutes deployed in flight and then pulling it off and then only one parachute," explained Stitch. The tests cover "all ranges of flight," including aborts and nominal modes, as well as different orientations and configurations for the spacecraft.
NASA also has a busy schedule for the ISS ahead of Starliner's maiden crewed launch. Right now, SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon are docked at the space station. Before Starliner takes off on ULA's rocket, the Cargo Dragon will undock from the ISS and the Crew Dragon will change its docking ports.
Stich also shared that NASA and Boeing have run the probability analysis for loss of crew during flight and the results fall below NASA thresholds. He outlined that for Starliner, NASA's acceptable probability for a loss of crew is "1in 270" while the probability for loss of mission is "1 in 55". Boeing has exceeded both of these, as the probability of loss of crew for Starliner is 1 in 295, while for loss of mission, the ship's score is 1 in 57.
Starliner is slated to launch from the Cape on May 6th. Backup launch opportunities include May 7th and then May 10th and 11th. The ship will fly two astronauts to the ISS for a two week flight that will see them evaluate the ship while in launch, space and reentry.
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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