NASA and Boeing have set a new target date of Saturday, June 22, for the return of the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission from the International Space Station. This additional time allows the team to complete departure planning and operations while ensuring the spacecraft remains ready for crew emergency return scenarios within flight rules.
Details of the new return target, flight status, and weather considerations will be discussed by NASA and Boeing leadership during a pre-departure media teleconference at 12 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 18. More details about the media teleconference will be provided by NASA soon.
“We are continuing to understand the capabilities of Starliner to prepare for the long-term goal of having it perform a six-month docked mission at the space station,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “The crew will perform additional hatch operations to better understand its handling, repeat some ‘safe haven’ testing, and assess piloting using the forward window.”
NASA and Boeing teams have also planned for Starliner to fire seven of its eight aft-facing thrusters while docked to the station to evaluate their performance for the remainder of the mission. This “hot fire test” will involve two bursts of the thrusters, totaling about a second, to assess how the spacecraft will perform during future operational missions after being docked for six months. The crew will also investigate cabin air temperature readings to correlate with the life support system’s temperature measurements.
“We have an incredible opportunity to spend more time at the station and perform more tests, providing invaluable data unique to our position,” said Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program. “As the integrated NASA and Boeing teams have said each step of the way, we have plenty of margin and time on station to maximize the opportunity for all partners to learn – including our crew.”
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, serving as Starliner’s crew for the mission, arrived at the International Space Station on June 6. They have completed numerous flight objectives required for NASA certification of Boeing’s transportation system for flights to the orbiting laboratory under the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Over the past three days, Wilmore and Williams have participated in various tasks as part of the space station team, including installing research equipment, maintaining the lab’s hardware, and assisting station crewmembers Matt Dominick and Tracy Dyson in preparing for a spacewalk. After NASA called off Thursday’s spacewalk, Williams helped the crew out of their spacesuits.
Engineering teams continue to enhance their understanding of previous observations from Starliner’s propulsion systems on the spacecraft’s service module.
