June 1, 2024, 6:59 a.m. ET
June 1, 2024, 6:59 a.m. ET
NASA astronauts will try as soon as once more Saturday afternoon to launch to orbit in a spacecraft they’ve by no means flown earlier than.
The area company retired its area shuttles in 2011. For 9 years, astronauts might get to the Worldwide Area Station solely aboard Russian Soyuz rockets. Then in Might 2020, two NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, flew to the I.S.S. in a SpaceX spacecraft, Crew Dragon. That capsule has since grow to be the one option to get to orbit from the US.
However NASA has been ready on a second automobile to be prepared. Known as Starliner, and constructed by the aerospace large Boeing, it’s set to launch on its first check flight with astronauts on board after years of technical setbacks and expensive delays. Right here’s what you could find out about Saturday’s flight:
The spacecraft will carry off atop an Atlas V rocket at 12:25 p.m. Jap time from Cape Canaveral Area Pressure Station in Florida. NASA will begin livestreaming the preparations for launch at 8:15 a.m. Jap. A video participant the place you’ll be able to watch the astronauts go well with up and board the capsule shall be supplied on this webpage.
Starliner has what is named an instantaneous launch window — it should launch on time to permit it to meet up with the Worldwide Area Station passing above. Climate is at present 90 p.c favorable for launch and the countdown and fueling of the rocket with propellants are underway.
The 2 crew members on board Starliner are Butch Wilmore, the commander, and Suni Williams, the pilot. They’re skilled NASA astronauts, with Mr. Wilmore having spent 167 days in area, and Ms. Williams 322 days there. After liftoff, they are going to spend a couple of day in orbit earlier than docking with the area station Sunday afternoon. They may keep for a couple of week, permitting for extra assessments of the spacecraft and its programs.
The 2 astronauts had been imagined to launch on Might 6. An issue, since repaired, with a valve on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that was to hold their Starliner capsule to orbit triggered the flight to be referred to as off after Wilmore and Williams had been already on board.
Starliner itself is years delayed, because the work by Boeing and NASA to verify that the spacecraft was secure to fly stretched far longer than both had anticipated. Technical pitfalls included insufficient software program testing, corroded propellant valves, flammable tape and a key part within the parachute system that turned out to be weaker than designed, and most lately a helium leak within the spacecraft’s propulsion system. Boeing fastened and studied the issues, enabling Saturday’s launch try.
The delays have left Boeing going through greater than $1.4 billion in sudden costs. The launch try comes throughout a tricky 2024 for the aerospace large. Simply days into the 12 months, a panel on the physique of a Boeing 737 Max 9 blew off throughout an Alaska Airways flight. The pilots safely landed the aircraft and there have been no main accidents, however the episode has had widespread repercussions for the corporate, significantly its aviation division.
Niraj Chokshi contributed reporting.
Present extra
