Space News reports that NASA and The Boeing Company said Wednesday that the second uncrewed Boeing CST-100 Starliner flight test will be pushed from March 25 to no earlier than April 2. The test was delayed in order “to replace hardware damaged during processing of the spacecraft.” The announcement “comes after Boeing recently replaced avionics units on the vehicle that were damaged by a power surge that NASA said was caused by ‘a ground support equipment configuration issue during final checkouts’ of the spacecraft.” Boeing also is “working to complete testing of software on the spacecraft, addressing one of the key issues with the first OFT mission in December 2019.” NASA “said that teams have completed about 95% of the recommendations identified by an independent review of that mission nearly a year ago, which focused primarily on software.”
Full Story (Space News)
Tag: April 2021
SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Carrying Starlink Satellites Scheduled to Launch Wednesday
Florida Today reports that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during an instantaneous window that opens at 12:34 p.m. EST Wednesday. The rocket will carry a batch of Starlink satellites. The 45th Weather Squadron “said conditions during the window should be 90% ‘go’ for liftoff. Risks from upper-level winds, which could damage a rocket after liftoff, were listed as ‘moderate’ and at-sea conditions for the booster’s drone ship recovery will be ‘low risk.’”
Full Story (Florida Today)
Vega Rocket Lifts Off in First Mission Since November
Spaceflight Now reports that the first launch of Arianespace’s Vega Rocket “since an in-flight failure nearly one year ago has been postponed to no earlier than Monday night due to unfavorable upper level winds over the Vega launch base in Kourou, French Guiana.” The rocket will carry 53 small satellites for “21 customers in 13 countries, including European Space Agency member states,” the US, Canada, Argentina, Thailand, and Israel. Whatever the date of the launch, the liftoff will be scheduled for 9:51:10 p.m. EDT.
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)