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<\/p>\nBoeing, one of NASA\u2019s two Commercial Crew providers, is making excellent progress toward the debut of their Starliner vehicle for both its uncrewed and crewed test flights. In addition to the two planned certification missions, NASA has announced that Boeing\u2019s Crew Flight Test, a two-week test mission, could now serve as a more operational six-month crew flight to the International Space Station with not two but three crew members.<\/p>\n
Boeing makes progress toward OFT and CFT missions:<\/b><\/p>\n
Officially, Boeing is targeting August 2018 for its Orbital Flight Test (OFT), their uncrewed certification mission for Starliner, to be followed in November 2018 with their Crew Flight Test (CFT). Those dates are based on the last quarterly review by the Commercial Crew Program in February, and there is some indication that those dates are likely to slip at the next quarterly review in May \u2013 with the CFT slipping into 2019.<\/p>\n
At the end of March, when Commercial Crew Program Director Kathy Lueders updated the NASA Advisory Council on commercial crew\u2019s progress, she had high praise for Boeing, noting that \u201cBoeing has been making tremendous progress. They had their Launch Segment Design Certification Review with ULA (United Launch Alliance) last fall. \u201cWe had are ISS DCR (Design Certification Review) in December. And really, they\u2019ve made tremendous progress towards baselining the open work that needs to be closed out before our upcoming CFT DCR that\u2019s scheduled in the summer timeframe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moreover, delivery schedules are now being worked with Boeing for delivery of their verification products, and Boeing is deep into hardware testing for the vehicles that will fly the OFT and CFT missions as well as undertaking a great deal of software training runs with a Johnson Space Center and the International Space Station Program \u2013 software needed to ensure proper flight, rendezvous, and docking with the Station.<\/p>\n
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Starliner docked to ISS, with Japan\u2019s HTV resupply vehicle visible underneath the Columbus module. (Credit: Nathan Koga for NSF\/L2)<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, they\u2019re working all our materials and out gas testing that\u2019s really critical whenever you have a spacecraft that\u2019s getting close to Station,\u201d said Ms. Lueders. \u201cWith Station we have to do all the material compatibility, and so the Boeing folks are working through that and making sure we\u2019re meeting the Station requirements there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of this activity includes a lot of work at White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico, where Boeing is hot-fire testing its Service Module thrusters and preparing for the all-important launch pad abort test coming up in a few weeks. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of activity going on at White Sands for the Boeing folks,\u201d noted Ms. Lueders. \u201cThey\u2019ve been doing all the engine level testing for the crewed mission, for the CFT mission and then for PCMs (Post Certification Missions \u2013 standard crew rotation flights) -1 and -2.\u201d<\/p>\n
Space Technology (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n For Boeing, part of the ground certification for Starliner involves hot fire testing its Service Module engines, which the company is getting ready to perform at White Sands. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a critical activity that\u2019s obviously testing out the Service Module portion of the vehicle but also provides data for our pad abort testing,\u201d noted Ms. Lueders.<\/p>\n