Tag: CST-100

CST-100 Starliner Arrives at Pad for Crewed Test Flight

Space News reports, “Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner is now installed on the Atlas 5 rocket that will launch the spacecraft on a crewed test flight to the International Space Station next month. The spacecraft rolled out from Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center to Space Launch Complex 41 in the early morning hours April 16.”
Full Story (Space News)

2024 Space Coast Expects to See Most Astronaut Launches Since 2009

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports that the business “of sending humans into space has not yet risen to the levels seen during the space shuttle program, but 2024 could see the most U.S.-based orbital launches in 15 years.” There are seven missions “slated from either Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Space Force Station that look to place 26 humans into orbit.” It’s the highest number “of crew launching from the Space Coast since 2009.” That year “saw five shuttle launches with 35 humans on board.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

NASA, Boeing Still Working Towards July Starliner Launch

Space News reported that NASA and The Boeing Company say they are “still working towards a July launch of the CST-100 Starliner on a crewed test flight despite ‘emerging issues’ and concerns raised by a safety panel.” The two organizations say they have completed a “checkpoint review” for preparations for the Crew Flight Test missions, which is scheduled for no earlier than July 21. Two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, “will fly on CFT to the International Space Station on the short test flight, the first crewed flight of the spacecraft.”
Full Story (Space News)

Boeing’s Starliner on Track to Launch in April

SPACE reported that The Boeing Company and NASA officials have announced that the Starliner’s first crewed flight will launch in April. The next major milestone “for Starliner’s progress will be loading propellant into the vehicle’s service module.” Successful propellant loading will begin a 60-day launch window in order to prevent valve corrosion on the spacecraft’s propulsion system.
Full Story (SPACE)

Four Crewed Launches Scheduled for Space Coast Before Summer

The Orlando Sentinel reports that in the next few months, “14 more humans could launch from U.S. soil as SpaceX has three missions set to lift off from Kennedy Space Center on Crew Dragons,” while The Boeing Company “looks to send its CST-100 Starliner up to the International Space Station for the first time with people on board.” Kathryn Lueders, NASA’s associate administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate, said, “We’re heading into, I would say one of the busiest increments in the history of station. We have a string of critical missions coming up.” Upcoming launches include “not only crewed flights from the Space Coast, but [also] a replacement Soyuz capsule to be sent up from Russia to the station for one damaged by micrometeorites and resupply missions from SpaceX, Northrop Grumman and Russia in the next four months.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

Weather Expected to be Good for Launches Scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday

The Orlando Sentinel reports, “Space Coast weather looks to be amenable” for “a Wednesday morning launch from SpaceX and a Thursday evening liftoff from” The Boeing Company. On Wednesday, there “is another Starlink mission from SpaceX launching from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39-A,” and “on Thursday evening, Boeing and NASA look to send up the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex-41.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

Boeing, NASA Ready for Second Starliner Test Flight

Space News reports that The Boeing Company and NASA “say they’re confident they have resolved a valve issue that delayed a test flight of the company’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle last year and are ready to try again later this month.” Boeing on Thursday “moved the Starliner spacecraft from a processing facility at the Kennedy Space Center…to a United Launch Alliance vehicle processing facility at Space Launch Complex 40. The Starliner will be installed on the Atlas 5 rocket there for final preparations for the Orbital Flight Test (OFT) 2 mission, scheduled for launch May 19.”
Full Story (Space News)

Space Florida to Bring Spacecraft Manufacturing to Melbourne Airport

Florida Today reports that the Space Florida board of directors “approved a staff request to complete negotiations with a company that is expected to invest more than $300 million in a new facility at the Melbourne Orlando International Airport.” The facility will bring 2,100 spacecraft manufacturing jobs “expected to have an average wage of $84,000 a year, plus benefits.”
Full Story (Florida Today)