Starliner

Meet Starliner, Boeing’s crew capsule for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Boeing is one of two companies building commercial human space capsules for NASA and will be the second of the two to start flying humans.

Starliner will carry a normal crew of four to and from the International Space Station for six-month missions. It is available for purchase for private astronaut missions to the ISS or completely private free-flying orbital missions.

Stats

Launch mass: 13000 kg

Crew capacity: Up to 7

Diameter: 4.56 m (15.0 ft)

Length: 5.03 m (16.5 ft)

Design life: 60 hours (free flight). 210 days (docked)

First Flight

A Starliner flew for the first time on December 20, 2019, on the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT) mission for NASA.

Immediately after launch, a series of critical issues plagued Starliner and nearly resulted in the loss of the ship. Barely able to get to orbit, the week-long flight was aborted.

Starliner landed, not without further critical issues, at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, on December 22.

An investigation showed a lack of necessary software testing on Boeing’s part as well as critical oversight failures on NASA’s end. Both organizations have corrected and extensively tested the software on Starliner.

Update from NASA January 24th, 2023

The Starliner spacecraft for the Crew Flight Test (CFT) is now complete, following the mating of its crew and service modules.

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner team completed the production milestone on Thursday, Jan. 19, in advance of the planned April launch with NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams to the International Space Station.

During the operation, a crane lifted the reusable crew module atop the brand-new service module in the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to become a fully operational spacecraft.

“Every member of our team is invested in giving Butch and Suni a great ride to the International Space Station,” said Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager for the Starliner program. “We’re building off the successes and lessons learned from Orbital Flight Test-2, and all of the pieces for CFT are coming together.”

With a completed spacecraft, teams will continue outfitting the crew module’s interior, conducting integrated vehicle testing, and performing final spacecraft checkouts. The spacecraft will then undergo weight and center of gravity testing prior to rolling out of the Starliner factory en route to its United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch complex.

CFT is targeted to launch in April 2023, in accordance with the International Space Station visiting vehicle schedule.

Second Flight

Starliner flew on May 19, 2022, on the second uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission for NASA.

Starliner successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on May 21, 2022. After 4 days, the Boeing spacecraft undocked from the space station. About four hours after departing, it successfully deployed its three main parachutes and six airbags. It then touched down onto its airbags, wrapping up the six-day journey, which tested the end-to-end capabilities of the crew-capable spacecraft.

First Crew Flight

The first crewed mission for Starliner is currently scheduled for 2024.

It will carry two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

Pilot: Sunita L. Williams.

Spacecraft Commander: Barry E. Wilmore.

Update from NASA JANUARY 31, 2024

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore successfully completed an integrated crew exercise simulation that moves Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft one step closer to its first flight with astronauts to the International Space Station.

Targeted for launch no earlier than mid-April 2024, NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) will fly Williams and Wilmore to the orbiting laboratory for about up to two weeks. They will evaluate Starliner and its systems before returning to Earth in the Western United States. Liftoff will be aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Completing the simulation at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida marks another milestone toward CFT launch. The integrated exercise involved participation from the flight crew, NASA, Boeing, and ULA, and allowed teams to rehearse prelaunch operations beginning roughly four hours before a targeted liftoff. The exercise began with Wilmore and Williams walking through suit-up procedures inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters in NASA Kennedy’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building.

Following this, they took an elevator down to the ground floor and exited the same double doors they will on launch day where their crew transportation vehicle was waiting to transport them to the launch pad. The crew and support teams then convoyed to the launch pad, where Williams and Wilmore supported operations from the white room – an area at the end of the launch tower’s crew access arm that will provide access to the spacecraft. The remainder of the rehearsal involved the crew traveling back to NASA Kennedy to support from Boeing’s Mission Control Center.

Over the next several weeks, teams will run through additional simulations focused on each phase of the mission. Some upcoming milestones include CFT certification, fueling Starliner with propellants, and stacking Starliner on the Atlas V rocket before rolling out to the launch pad in preparation for liftoff.

Courtesy of NASA

A ULA Atlas V rocket will send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard The Boeing Company’s CST-100 Starliner capsule. The Starliner will launch on the Atlas V from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, on Florida’s Space Coast.

Dual Engine Centaur: For CST-100 Starliner missions, the Centaur upper stage will fly with two RL10A-4-2 engines, offering more thrust to accommodate the Starliner. It also helps shape the ascent trajectory to the Space Station.

Launch Vehicle Adapter (LVA) and Aeroskirt: The launch vehicle adapter (LVA) provides the structural attachment of the Starliner capsule to the Atlas V rocket. The LVA uses a truss structure and metallic ring to attach the spacecraft to the Centaur upper stage. ULA also designed a 70-inch-long aeroskirt to extend the Starliner aerodynamic surface, which enhances the aerodynamic characteristics, stability, and loads of the Atlas V for the unique crewed configuration.

Emergency Detection System (EDS): This system monitors various launch vehicle parameters to determine the health of the rocket, and provides a capability to take action by signaling an abort command so the Starliner can escape if necessary.

The workhorse Atlas V rocket from ULA is the launch vehicle of choice for the Starliner crew capsule.

For this role, Atlas V flies in a unique configuration with no payload fairing and a special aeroskirt at the base of Starliner.

This variant is called the N22 because the rocket has no payload fairings "N," two solid rocket motors "2," and two engines on its Centaur upper stage "2".

A dual-engine Centaur upper stage has so far only been used on the Atlas V for Starliner missions while dual-engine Centaur stages flew more than 160 times on previous versions of the Atlas.

When launching Starliner, Atlas V does not climb quickly out of Earth's atmosphere but instead flies much lower than usual.

This is done to make sure Starliner and its future crews can safely abort away from the Atlas V at any point during launch.

Photo: Erik Kuna for Supercluster

Space Launch Complex-41 is the east-coast home of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket.

The pad hosted its first launch on December 21st, 1965 and is currently being upgraded to serve ULA's Vulcan rocket no earlier than 2022.

Vulcan and Atlas V will share the pad for several years before the Atlas is retired.

From the 1960s to the 1990s, SLC-41 was used for the U.S. Air Force’s Titan III and Titan IV rockets.

It has been the launch site of many notable missions:

• the Helios probes to study the Sun
• the Viking missions to Mars
• the Voyager interstellar probes
• the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
• New Horizon to Pluto and Kuiper Belt
• Juno to Jupiter.

The pad will soon start launching humans on Boeing's Starliner capsule beginning no earlier than 2024.

Located on Florida’s east coast, Cape Canaveral is ideally located to allow access to a wide variety of space destinations that can be reached while safely launching over the open Atlantic Ocean so as not to endanger anyone on the ground.

The Cape currently supports the launch of four different rocket families: Atlas V, Delta IV, Falcon 9, and Minotaur.

Launches of Vulcan from ULA and New Glenn from Blue Origin are set to begin no earlier than 2024 with current schedules.

NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which occupies neighboring Merritt Island, and Cape Canaveral are often confused with each other or referred to as a single place.

They are in fact separate government installations but united as a single “Eastern Range” for launch operations.

Over its history, the spaceport has held the following names:

• Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (1949-1963)
• Cape Kennedy Air Force Station (1963-1973)
• Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (1973-2020)
• Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (2020-present)

Credit: ULA

ISS - Harmony forward

The Harmony module, also known within NASA as Node-2, was launched to the ISS in October 2007 on the STS-120 mission of Shuttle Discovery.

Harmony serves as the gateway between the U.S. scientific and living modules and ESA's Columbus laboratory and JAXA’s Kibo lab complex.

The module is equipped with two docking ports for U.S. crew (Dragon and Starliner) and cargo (Dragon) spacecraft and also has one berthing port that can be used for either Northrop Grumman's Cygnus or Japan's HTV cargo crafts.

Photo: The Harmony module, with the forward docking port visible. Credit: NASA