The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off Thursday night with NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale satellite quartet in a successful flight from Cape Canaveral.
Credit: NASA TV
Mission Reports
After problem-plagued test flight, Boeing will refly crew capsule without astronauts
Mission Reports
Starliner landing now on indefinite hold for more tests, but NASA insists crew not ‘stranded’ in space
The problem for NASA and Boeing is that the Starliner’s service module, which houses the helium lines, thrusters and other critical systems, is discarded before re-entry and burns up in the atmosphere. Engineers will not be able to study the hardware after the fact and as a result, they want to collect as much data as possible before NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams head home.
