NASA astronaut Nick Hague, front, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov arrive via Gulfstream jet on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, ahead of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 launch. The pair will stay in the center’s Astronaut Crew Quarters in preparation for their launch on Thursday, Sept. 26, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: Danielle Sempsrott/NASA
NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, arrived at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida just moments ago on Saturday, Sept. 21.
NASA leaders will greet the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 at 1:30 p.m. EDT for a brief welcome ceremony with the following participants:
Kelvin Manning, deputy director, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
Dana Hutcherson, deputy program manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
NASA astronaut Nick Hague
Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov
The ceremony will stream live on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
Hague and Gorbunov will quarantine at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy. While there, they’ll conduct a dry dress rehearsal of the mission, sleep shift to align their resting and waking periods with mission requirements, rehearse flight procedures, as well as make calls to family and friends.
The crew is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station at 2:05 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Sept. 26, from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague (left) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov pose for portraits in their flight suits at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX
In a matter of hours on Saturday, Sept. 21, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 will land at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague, commander, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, mission specialist, left Ellington Field near the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and will continue to quarantine at Kennedy.
NASA leaders will hold a brief welcome ceremony when Hague and Gorbunov land around 1:30 p.m. EDT. Watch the event live on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
Liftoff is targeted for 2:05 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Sept. 26, from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Crew-9 will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. This is the first time a human spaceflight mission will launch from the pad.
This view from a window on the cupola overlooks a portion of the International Space and shows the partially obscured Starliner spacecraft from Boeing docked to the Harmony module’s forward port. Photo credit: NASA
NASA and Boeing now are targeting no earlier than Saturday, June 22, to return the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission from the International Space Station. The extra time allows the team to finalize departure planning and operations while the spacecraft remains cleared for crew emergency return scenarios within the flight rules.
NASA and Boeing leadership will discuss the details of the new return target, flight status, and weather considerations for landing during a pre-departure media teleconference at 12 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 18. NASA will provide additional media teleconference details soon.
“We are continuing to understand the capabilities of Starliner to prepare for the long-term goal of having it perform a six-month docked mission at the space station,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “The crew will perform additional hatch operations to better understand its handling, repeat some ‘safe haven’ testing and assess piloting using the forward window.”
NASA and Boeing teams also prepared plans for Starliner to fire seven of its eight aft-facing thrusters while docked to the station to evaluate thruster performance for the remainder of the mission. Known as a “hot fire test,” the process will see two bursts of the thrusters, totaling about a second, as part of a pathfinder process to evaluate how the spacecraft will perform during future operational missions after being docked to the space station for six months. The crew also will investigate cabin air temperature readings across the cabin to correlate to the life support system temperature measurements.
“We have an incredible opportunity to spend more time at station and perform more tests which provides invaluable data unique to our position,” said Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, Commercial Crew Program, Boeing. “As the integrated NASA and Boeing teams have said each step of the way, we have plenty of margin and time on station to maximize the opportunity for all partners to learn – including our crew.”
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who are serving as Starliner’s crew for the mission, arrived at the International Space Station on June 6. They’ve completed numerous flight objectives required for NASA certification of Boeing’s transportation system for flights to the orbiting laboratory under the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Over the past three days, Wilmore and Williams have performed tasks as part of the space station team, including installing research equipment, maintaining the lab’s hardware, and helping station crewmembers Matt Dominick and Tracy Dyson prepare for a spacewalk. After NASA called off Thursday’s spacewalk, Williams worked to help the crew out of their spacesuits.
Engineering teams continue to increase their understanding of previous observations from Starliner propulsion systems on the spacecraft’s service module.
Pending spacecraft return readiness and acceptable weather conditions, Starliner will undock from the space station for a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States. Get the latest mission updates by following the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook.
The Starliner spacecraft on NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test approaches the International Space Station while orbiting 263 miles above Quebec, Canada. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard Starliner docked to the orbital outpost’s forward port on the Harmony module at 1:34 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 6. Photo credit: NASA
Orbiting Earth as part of the nine-person crew of the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams continue testing Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft as part of its first flight with astronauts. The testing is part of the data collection on the Starliner system for certification by NASA for regular crewed mission to the orbital complex.
As part of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, Wilmore and Williams, along with teams on the ground, are stepping through numerous flight objectives following arrival of Starliner to the space station on June 6, including:
Powering the spacecraft down into a minimal power mode, which it will enter during operational missions while the crew works aboard station, and then powering it up again;
Conducting “safe haven” checks to show the spacecraft can support a crew with its own air and consumables during in an emergency on the station;
Performing a habitability study, along with astronauts Tracy Dyson and Matthew Dominick, to evaluate seating positions and other factors, such as air circulation for a four-person crew;
Evaluating spacesuit and seat-fits, as well as checkouts of the service module’s batteries.
Meanwhile, ground teams continue to assess and monitor Starliner’s performance and planning for return of the mission no earlier than Tuesday, June 18, pending weather and spacecraft readiness. Starliner is cleared for crew emergency return scenarios from space station, if needed, in accordance with the flight rules.
While Starliner remains docked to station, ground teams are continuing to evaluate propulsion system in-flight observations.
“Butch and Suni are doing great aboard station as ground teams continue digging into the details of Starliner’s on-orbit, rendezvous, and docked performance,” said Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “We expected to do a lot of valuable learning on this test flight, and I am extremely proud of how the NASA and Boeing teams are working together to ensure we can safely execute the return portion of the mission.”
One of Starliner’s aft-facing reaction control system (RCS) thrusters, capable of about 85 pounds of thrust, remains de-selected as teams continue to evaluate its performance. Ground teams plan to fire all 28 RCS thrusters after undocking to collect additional data signatures on the service module thrusters before the hardware is expended. As part of normal operations, the service module separates from crew module on return, so NASA and Boeing will gather as much data as possible to aid in system assessments.
Teams currently are assessing what impacts, if any, five small leaks in the service module helium manifolds would have on the remainder of the mission. Engineers evaluated the helium supply based on current leak rates and determined that Starliner has plenty of margin to support the return trip from station. Only seven hours of free-flight time is needed to perform a normal end of mission, and Starliner currently has enough helium left in its tanks to support 70 hours of free flight activity following undocking. While Starliner is docked, all the manifolds are closed per normal mission operations preventing helium loss from the tanks.
Engineers also are evaluating an RCS oxidizer isolation valve in the service module that is not properly closed. Ground teams performed a successful propulsion system valve checkout on Sunday. All other oxidizer and fuel valves within the service module were cycled normally. The suspect oxidizer isolation valve was not cycled in the recent checkout. It will remain commanded closed for the remainder of the mission while ground teams continue to evaluate its data signatures. The crew module propulsion valves, which are part of an independent system that steers the capsule in the last phase of flight before landing, also were successfully cycled, and all those valves are performing as designed.
Mission managers are continuing to work through the return plan, which includes assessments of flight rationale, fault tolerance, and potential operational mitigations for the remainder of the flight. NASA and Boeing will hold a pre-departure media teleconference to provide additional updates before Starliner undocks from station.
With launch and docking already completed, the last remaining dynamic phase of the mission will come at the end of the flight test when Starliner will undock from the orbiting laboratory and then adjust its orbit to move away from the space station. The spacecraft, with Wilmore and Williams aboard, will perform a deorbit burn before entering the atmosphere and landing in the southwestern United States under parachutes and landing airbags to complete the flight.
As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, the mission is the first crewed flight for the Starliner spacecraft. Learn more about the mission by following the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook.
A ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Friday, May 31, 2024, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is the first launch with astronauts of the Starliner spacecraft and ULA Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission teams are preparing to support a launch at 10:52 a.m. EDT Wednesday, June 5, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on a mission of about a week to the International Space Station.
Technicians and engineers with ULA (United Launch Alliance) worked overnight and on Sunday to assess the ground support equipment at the launch pad that encountered issues during the countdown and scrubbed the June 1 launch attempt. The ULA team identified an issue with a single ground power supply within one of the three redundant chassis that provides power to a subset of computer cards controlling various system functions, including the card responsible for the stable replenishment topping valves for the Centaur upper stage. All three of these chassis are required to enter the terminal phase of the launch countdown to ensure crew safety.
On Sunday, the chassis containing the faulty ground power unit was removed, visually inspected, and replaced with a spare chassis. No signs of physical damage were observed. A full failure analysis of the power unit will be performed to better understand root cause. Meanwhile, ULA has completed functional checkouts of the new chassis and the cards, and all hardware is performing normally.
The mission managers have opted for the next launch attempt on June 5. The U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron predicts a 90% chance of favorable weather conditions, with the cumulus cloud rule being the primary weather concern. Another opportunity is available at 10:29 a.m., Thursday, June 6.
NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, the crew of the flight test who will be the first to launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, remain in quarantine at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and will take part in pilot proficiency and other training activities leading up to launch.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, Sunday, May 5, 2024 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
Mission managers from NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) continue to evaluate a path forward toward launching the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station. The teams are now working toward a launch opportunity at 12:25 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 1, with additional opportunities on Sunday, June 2, Wednesday, June 5, and Thursday, June 6.
Work continues to assess Starliner performance and redundancy following the discovery of a small helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module. As part of this work, and unrelated to the current leak which remains stable, teams are in the process of completing a follow-on propulsion system assessment to understand potential helium system impacts on some Starliner return scenarios. NASA also will conduct a Delta-Agency Flight Test Readiness Review to discuss the work that was performed since the last CFT launch attempt on May 6, and to evaluate issue closure and flight rationale ahead of the next attempt, as part of NASA’s process for assessing readiness. The date of the upcoming Flight Test Readiness Review is under consideration and will be announced once selected.
“There has been a great deal of exceptional analysis and testing over the last two weeks by the joint NASA, Boeing, and ULA teams to replace the Centaur Self Regulating Valve and troubleshoot the Starliner Service Module helium manifold leak,” said Steve Stich, manager, NASA Commercial Crew Program. “It has been important that we take our time to understand all the complexities of each issue including the redundant capabilities of the Starliner propulsion system and any implications to our Interim Human Rating Certification. We will launch Butch and Suni on this test mission after the entire community has reviewed the teams’ progress and flight rationale at the upcoming Delta Agency Flight Test Readiness Review.”
NASA, Boeing, and ULA officials will provide insight into the next targeted launch opportunity and updates regarding ongoing work during a media teleconference at 11 a.m. EDT Friday, May 24. NASA expects to issue a media advisory Thursday, May 23, with additional details for the call and how to participate.
Meanwhile, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams continue practicing in Starliner simulators to prepare for flight. The crew remains quarantined and will fly back to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida closer to the new launch date.
The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is lifted at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on May 4, 2022. Photo credit: NASA/Frank MichauxFollowing a review of the International Space Station operations, NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test now is targeting no earlier than Monday, May 6, for Starliner’s first launch with astronauts to the orbital complex. The date adjustment optimizes space station schedule of activities planned toward the end of April, including a cargo spacecraft undocking and a crew spacecraft port relocation required for Starliner docking. NASA and Boeing also are performing prelaunch closeout work and completing final certification for flight.
Starliner will carry NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the space station for a docking to the forward port of the Harmony module. Ahead of Starliner’s launch, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 crewmates will board the Dragon spacecraft, currently docked to the forward port, for a relocation to the zenith port of Harmony to allow for Starliner docking. The date shift also allows additional time for the crew aboard the microgravity laboratory to complete science and cargo logistics ahead of the departure of the Dragon cargo spacecraft.
As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, Starliner will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Williams and Wilmore will spend about a week docked to the space station ahead of a return to Earth in the western United States. The flight test will help NASA verify whether the Starliner system is ready to fly regular crew rotation missions to space station for the agency.
Crews raise a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket to a vertical position at the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) are readying the rocket that will launch the first crewed flight of the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket stands vertical, awaiting integration with the rocket’s Centaur upper stage and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner after moving inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
The ULA Atlas V rocket was moved into the company’s Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, which starts the preparations for its stacking operations ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test.
The rocket’s main stage was transferred from the nearby Advanced Spaceflight Operations Center to the integration facility Wednesday, Feb. 21, where it will await integration with the rocket’s upper Centaur stage and Starliner. The spacecraft will carry NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the orbiting laboratory for a short stay of about one to two weeks before returning to a landing site in the southwest United States.
The mission will test the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner system, including launch, docking, and a return to Earth. After successful completion of the mission, NASA will begin the final process of certifying Starliner and its systems for crewed rotation missions to the space station.
NASA and Boeing are targeting no earlier than late April for launch. Starliner completed two uncrewed flight tests, including Orbital Flight Test-2, which docked to the space station on May 21, 2022, and provided valuable data leading up to its first crewed flight.
Details about the mission and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program can be found by following the commercial crew blog, X, and Facebook.
Members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 from right to left, NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, mission specialist; Matthew Dominick, commander; Michael Barratt, pilot; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, mission specialist; will launch to the International Space Station no earlier than 12:04 a.m. EST Friday, March 1, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: SpaceX
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 crew members are en route to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin final launch preparations.
Crew-8 crewmates NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, commander; Michael Barratt, pilot; Jeanette Epps, mission specialist; along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, mission specialist, departed by plane from Ellington Field near the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, for the short flight to the Florida spaceport. The crew is expected to arrive at Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility this afternoon.
Crew-8 astronauts will be greeted upon their arrival by leaders from NASA for a brief welcome ceremony targeted for approximately 2 p.m. EST. The event is scheduled to stream live, if weather permits, on Kennedy’s YouTube, X, and Facebook accounts.
Meanwhile, NASA, SpaceX, and international partner representatives have gathered at Kennedy to participate in the agency’s Flight Readiness Review, which focuses on the preparedness of SpaceX’s crew transportation system, the space station, and its international partners to support the launch of Crew-8 and return of Crew-7. A teleconference is planned for later today, approximately one hour after the conclusion of the review. Be sure to follow along on our blog; additional details will be provided as the day progresses.
SpaceX Crew-8 is targeted to launch at 12:04 a.m. EST on Friday, March 1, to the International Space Station.
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft passes by the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Nov. 21, making its way to the Space Launch Complex 41 Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. At the pad, Starliner will be secured atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in preparation for Boeing’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test to the International Space Station for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
