Starliner – Page 7 – Spaceflight Now

Photos: Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft rolls out of factory

November 22, 2019 Stephen Clark

Boeing’s first Starliner spacecraft designed to fly to the International Space Station rolled out of a converted space shuttle hangar before dawn Thursday.

Boeing’s first space-ready Starliner crew capsule meets its Atlas 5 launcher

November 21, 2019 Stephen Clark

Boeing’s first Starliner crew capsule to fly in space departed its factory Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a trip to a launch pad a few miles away, where teams raised the craft atop an Atlas 5 rocket for liftoff next month on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station.

Photos: Centaur upper stage hoisted atop Atlas 5 rocket for Starliner launch

November 11, 2019 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance teams at Cape Canaveral hoisted a Centaur upper stage on top of an Atlas 5 rocket Friday at launch pad 41, completing the initial build-up of the launch vehicle slated to carry Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule into space in December on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station.

Boeing identifies cause of chute malfunction, preps for Starliner launch

November 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

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 step in the Starliner launch campaign, and comes after engineers concluded that human error led to a parachute deployment malfunction during a crew capsule abort test Monday.

Video: New view of Starliner pad abort test

November 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

Boeing has released a new video of the company’s Nov. 4 pad abort test demonstrating the Starliner crew capsule’s ability to escape a launch emergency.

Photos: Starliner crew capsule performs pad abort test

November 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

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.

ULA begins stacking unique Atlas 5 rocket for Starliner test flight

November 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

The stacking of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket this week at Cape Canaveral signals the start of a busy six-week campaign to ready ULA’s trusty workhorse launcher for its debut in a new human-rated configuration in mid-December.

Boeing tests crew capsule escape system

November 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

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 any impacts on the planned launch of an unpiloted Starliner demonstration mission to the International Space Station in December.

Boeing, SpaceX readying for crew capsule abort tests

October 31, 2019 Stephen Clark

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.

Bridenstine says NASA not holding up commercial crew schedule

October 25, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said this week the space agency is not unduly delaying the debut of new SpaceX and Boeing commercial crew capsules as engineers gear up for a challenging rapid-fire sequence of test flights in the next few months, all against the backdrop of in-depth safety reviews before clearing the privately-owned ships to carry astronauts.