Tag: ULA

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.

Launch Managers Push Third Cygnus Launch Attempt to Sunday

Atlas V Rocket and Cygnus Spacecraft
The Atlas V Rocket with the Cygnus spacecraft on top stands at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch pad in Florida. Credit: United Launch Alliance

For the latest Orbital ATK mission information visit the NASA Orbital blog here… https://blogs.nasa.gov/orbital

Launch managers deferred a Saturday launch opportunity due to high wind conditions expected to violate launch rules during the window. The new launch time is Sunday, Dec. 6 at 4:44 p.m. EST for the fourth Orbital ATK commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. The forecast for Sunday improves to 40 percent chance of favorable weather.

The Cygnus spacecraft will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA Television coverage Sunday will begin at 3:45 p.m.

Cygnus is loaded with more than 7,000 pounds of supplies and science and research investigations. Science payloads aboard Cygnus will offer a new life science facility that will support studies on cell cultures, bacteria and other microorganisms; a microsatellite deployer and the first microsatellite that will be deployed from the space station; and experiments that will study the behavior of gases and liquids, clarify the thermo-physical properties of molten steel, and evaluate flame-resistant textiles.

For a mission overview, press kit, launch countdown coverage, NASA’s launch blog, and more information about the mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/orbitalatk.

To join the online conversation about the Orbital ATK CRS-4 launch and the International Space Station on Twitter, follow @Space_Station and #Cygnus.