{"id":17916,"date":"2019-10-11T23:59:44","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T15:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-confirms-boeings-latest-timetable-for-starliner-space-taxis-final-tests\/"},"modified":"2019-10-11T23:59:44","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T15:59:44","slug":"nasa-confirms-boeings-latest-timetable-for-starliner-space-taxis-final-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-confirms-boeings-latest-timetable-for-starliner-space-taxis-final-tests\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA confirms Boeing\u2019s latest timetable for Starliner space taxi\u2019s final tests"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_526822\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-526822\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-526822\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/191011-starliner2-630x445.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/191011-starliner2-630x445.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/191011-starliner2-768x543.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/191011-starliner2-1260x890.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/191011-starliner2.jpg 1462w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-526822\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teams from NASA, Boeing and White Sands Missile Range rehearse procedures for landing and crew extraction from Boeing\u2019s Starliner in September at the New Mexico missile range. (NASA Photo \/ Bill Ingalls)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>NASA confirmed today that Boeing is scheduled to conduct the next high-profile test of its CST-100 Starliner space capsule in a little more than three weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The target data for Starliner\u2019s pad abort test is set for Nov. 4 at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, NASA said. That\u2019s in line with the plan that Boeing executive John Mulholland laid out earlier this week at a New Mexico space symposium.<\/p>\n<p>If next month\u2019s test is successful, Boeing would target Dec. 17 for the launch of an uncrewed Starliner to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.<\/p>\n<p>And if that test flight is successful in turn, Boeing is expected to send a crew of spacefliers on a demonstration flight to the space station in early 2020. That\u2019s roughly the same timetable that SpaceX is working toward for the first crewed flight of its Crew Dragon space taxi.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX and Boeing are developing the spaceships under the terms of multibillion-dollar contracts with NASA. Boeing\u2019s Starliner and SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon are designed to accommodate as many as seven astronauts for trips to and from the space station, restoring a U.S. crewed launch capability that was lost in 2011 when NASA retired the space shuttle fleet.<\/p>\n<p>NASA is currently paying Russia\u2019s space agency more than $80 million a seat for trips on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"CST-100 Starliner Pad Abort Test Animation\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RZg5CCAyiTA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Boeing\u2019s pad abort test involves having an uncrewed Starliner spacecraft fire its launch abort engines to blast off from a test pad, rise about a mile in the air and make a landing about a mile away with the aid of parachutes and airbags.<\/p>\n<p>Such a scenario would come into play during an actual mission if a launch-pad emergency required the crew and its capsule to rocket to safety.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"callout clearfix\"><strong>SpaceX update:<\/strong> NASA\u2019s chief and Elon Musk give \u2018best guess\u2019 for Dragon\u2019s big flight<\/h4>\n<p>More than a year ago, Boeing was dealt a significant setback when a test of the launch abort system went awry due to an unwanted leak of propellant. The problem led to months of delay, but the launch abort engines passed a similar test this May.<\/p>\n<p>The crew for next year\u2019s Starliner demonstration flight consists of NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann, plus Boeing test pilot Chris Ferguson.<\/p>\n<p>Ferguson came to Boeing from NASA\u2019s astronaut corps, where he served as commander of the shuttle fleet\u2019s final flight in July 2011. During that mission, he and his crewmates left behind a small American flag that\u2019s destined to be retrieved and returned to Earth by the next crew to be launched from U.S. soil.<\/p>\n<p>Now Ferguson is hoping to be part of the team doing the retrieval. \u201cSort of like a grown-up version of \u2018capture the flag,\u2019 \u201d he told Reuters in August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teams from NASA, Boeing and White Sands Missile Range rehearse procedures for landing and crew extraction from Boeing\u2019s Starliner in September at the New Mexico missile range. (NASA Photo \/ Bill Ingalls) NASA confirmed today that Boeing is scheduled to conduct the next high-profile test of its CST-100 Starliner space capsule in a little more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[670,717,1306],"class_list":["post-17916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-boeing","tag-international-space-station","tag-starliner"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17916\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}