Tag: CCSFS

NASA, Boeing Crew Lands in Florida for Starliner Mission

NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test Crew Butch Wilmore (left), and Suni Williams (right) arrive in Florida on Thursday, April 25, 2024. Photo credit: NASA

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams landed April 25, at the Launch and Landing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a short flight from Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Paying homage to their piloting days as retired U.S. Navy captains, they flew to Kennedy in a T-38 jet. 

As part of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, Wilmore and Williams are the first to launch aboard the company’s Starliner spacecraft on a ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station. 

Shortly after 1 p.m. EDT, NASA leaders will hold a brief welcome ceremony with the following participants:

  • Jennifer Kunz, associate director, NASA Kennedy 
  • Dana Hutcherson, deputy manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program 
  • NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore 
  • NASA astronaut Suni Williams

The welcome ceremony will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.  

Meanwhile, NASA, Boeing, and ULA representatives are participating in the agency’s Flight Test Readiness Review at NASA Kennedy. The two-day event, which is scheduled to conclude April 25, verifies the mission readiness, including all systems, facilities, and teams that will support the launch.  

Liftoff is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. Monday, May 6, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The astronauts will spend about a week at the orbiting laboratory before the crew capsule makes a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States. 

Learn more about NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test by following the mission blog, the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook. 

NASA, Boeing Crew Fly Jet to Florida for Starliner Launch

Photo of NASA, Boeing Crew Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams
Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in T-38 pre-flight activities at Ellington Field on Tuesday, August 16, 2022. Photo credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz

The two NASA astronauts that will fly aboard a new spacecraft for the first time to the International Space Station are on their way on Thursday to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin final launch preparations. 

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are targeting 10:34 p.m. EDT Monday, May 6, for launch of the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

As retired U.S. Navy captains, Wilmore and Williams are flying on a T-38 jet from Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for the short flight to Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility. 

At 1 p.m., NASA will host a crew arrival event at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the following participants:

  • Jennifer Kunz, associate director, NASA Kennedy 
  • Dana Hutcherson, deputy manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program 
  • NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore 
  • NASA astronaut Suni Williams

The arrival will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. 

Following launch, the astronauts will spend about a week at the orbiting laboratory before the crew capsule makes a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States. 

Learn more about NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test by following the mission blog, the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook.

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Astronauts Enter Quarantine for Mission

NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams (left) and Butch Wilmore (right) pose for photo ahead of May 6 flight to the International Space Station
The official crew portrait for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. Left is Suni Williams, who will serve as the pilot, and to the right is Barry “Butch” Wilmore, spacecraft commander. Photo credit: NASA

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who are set to launch to the International Space Station on Monday, May 6, entered pre-flight quarantine in preparation for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission.

Flight crew health stabilization is a standard process ahead of any human spaceflight mission to ensure the health and safety of the crew prior to liftoff, as well as prevent sickness of the astronauts at the space station. During quarantine, astronaut contact is limited, and most interactions are remote – although family and some launch team members also may be in quarantine or cleared before interacting with the crew.

Wilmore and Williams will launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on a ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The duo will make history as the first people to fly on the Starliner spacecraft.

Wilmore and Williams will quarantine at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston before traveling to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than Thursday, April 25, where they’ll remain in quarantine until launch.

Meanwhile, teams also are preparing for the Flight Test Readiness Review, which will take place over the course of two days – Wednesday, April 24, and April 25. That review brings together teams from NASA, Boeing, ULA, and its international partners to verify mission readiness including all systems, facilities, and teams that will support the end-to-end test of the Starliner.

Following a successful flight test, NASA will begin certifying the Starliner system for regular crew rotation missions to space station for the agency.

Launch is scheduled no earlier than 10:34 p.m. EDT May 6.

Learn more about NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test by following the mission blog, the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Begins Stacking Operations

Photo of Boeing's Starliner that will take NASA astronauts to the International Space Station In May 2024.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, set to carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station, passes in front of the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, set to carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station, is lifted and stacked on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket
https://blogs.nasa.gov/boeing-crew-flight-test/

NASA teams joined Boeing on April 16 to move the Starliner spacecraft out of the company’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the launch site.

Technicians lifted and connected the spacecraft to the top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are the first to launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled for no earlier than 10:34 p.m. EDT Monday, May 6, from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex-41. The astronauts will spend about a week at the orbiting laboratory before the crew capsule makes a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States.

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.

Wilmore and Williams will wrap up flight preparations in Houston and arrive at NASA Kennedy no earlier than Thursday, April 25.

Learn more about the NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test by following the mission  blog, the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook.

NASA, Boeing Prep Starliner to Join Rocket Ahead of Crew Flight Test

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 Michaux

The spacecraft set to carry two NASA astronauts on the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station is ready to move from its production facility to the launch site. Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will roll out of the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Tuesday, April 16, to the Vertical Integration Facility at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to connect to the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

The crewed flight test is targeting launch no earlier than 10:34 p.m. Monday, May 6 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will fly aboard Starliner and will dock at the space station’s forward port of the Harmony module. The duo will spend about a week at the orbiting laboratory before Starliner makes a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States.

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. The Starliner capsule, with a diameter of 15 feet (4.56m) and the capability to steer automatically or manually, will carry four astronauts, or a mix of crew and cargo, for NASA missions to low Earth orbit.

Learn more about NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test by following the mission blog, the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook.