Tag: Boeing
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Boeing proposes SLS-launched lunar lander
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Nov. 10 to correct references to ascent and descent stage functions. Artist’s concept of Boeing’s lunar lander taking off from the moon. Credit: Boeing Boeing is touting a lunar lander concept that the company claims could launch in one piece on an upgraded version of NASA’s Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket — which…
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Video: New view of Starliner pad abort test
Video credit: Boeing Boeing has released a new video of the company’s Nov. 4 abort test demonstrating the Starliner crew capsule’s ability to escape a launch pad emergency. Officials from Boeing and NASA briefed reporters Thursday on the initial results from the pad abort test, in which the abort engines pushed the spacecraft off…
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Boeing identifies cause of chute malfunction, preps for Starliner launch
Technicians prepare Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for fueling before its first unpiloted space mission. Credit: Boeing Boeing specialists working inside a former space shuttle hangar in Florida started fueling the company’s first spaceflight-ready Starliner capsule this week ahead of the ship’s rollout to its launch pad later this month. The fueling milestone is a major…
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Boeing traces problem with Starliner parachute system to an unsecured pin
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi descends on the end of two parachutes during this week’s pad abort test. The Starliner’s heat shield can be seen falling away beneath the craft. (Boeing Photo) For want of a pin, the use of a spaceship’s parachute was lost. That may be a simplistic way to explain why one…
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Photos: Starliner crew capsule performs pad abort test
Boeing conducted a critical test of the launch abort system of the company’s Starliner crew capsule Nov. 4 at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Four launch abort engines, augmented with thrust from smaller maneuvering jets, ignited at 7:15 a.m. MST (9:15 a.m. EST; 1415 GMT) to swiftly launch the 16.5-foot-tall (5-meter) crew capsule…
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ULA begins stacking unique Atlas 5 rocket for Starliner test flight
Ground crews hoisted the first stage of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket vertical atop its mobile launch platform Monday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, in preparation for a scheduled Dec. 17 launch with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Credit: United Launch Alliance The stacking of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket this…
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Boeing proposes lunar lander for NASA crews, rivaling Blue Origin (and SpaceX?)
An artist’s conception shows the ascent module taking off from the descent module on Boeing’s lunar lander. (Boeing Illustration) Boeing says it has submitted its proposal for a lunar lander capable of putting astronauts on the moon by as early as 2024, joining a competition that includes Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture…
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NASA is ‘thrilled’ with pad abort test for Boeing’s Starliner space taxi despite parachute glitch
Two parachutes ease the descent of the Boeing-built CST-100 Starliner space taxi during an uncrewed pad abort test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. (NASA via YouTube) Boeing cleared a key milestone for launching NASA astronauts on its CST-100 Starliner space taxi today by executing an end-to-end test of its rocket-powered launch abort…
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Boeing tests crew capsule escape system
WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, New Mexico — A Boeing Starliner crew capsule fired off a stand early Monday at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on a mile-high test flight to validate the spacecraft’s emergency escape thrusters. Only two of the ship’s three main parachutes deployed on descent, but Boeing officials do not expect…
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Boeing, SpaceX readying for crew capsule abort tests
Boeing and SpaceX are readying for launch abort tests in the coming weeks to validate the crew escape systems for the new human-rated Starliner and Crew Dragon spaceships, now scheduled to begin ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station in the first half of next year. The abort tests are scheduled to begin as soon…