Boeing and NASA are carrying out the second test flight of the Starliner capsule on the night of May 19 to 20. Objective: the International Space Station. The shooting can be followed live.
The Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2 mission in summary
What is the mission of Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2?
The objective for Boeing is to reach the International Space Station with the Starliner capsule, to dock it for a while, then to bring it back to Earth. A first attempt of this type was organized in December 2019, but ended in semi-failure. Since then, Boeing and NASA have been working to prepare the next test and make it a success.
The success of this firing, which is unmanned, will determine what happens next: if all goes well, Boeing will be able to prepare for the next stage, with a new practice firing, but this time with a crew of astronauts on board. It will be the carbon copy of the May 19-20 test, except that there will be a few people in the capsule who will make the round trip.
Again, if all goes well, Boeing could be qualified to carry out transport missions between Earth and the ISS, just like SpaceX on the American side or Roscosmos on the Russian side. The crewed test flight is scheduled to take off by the end of 2022. As for the first operational mission to the ISS, it would be in the spring of 2023.
Although Boeing is best known for its aircraft manufacturing activity, over time it has developed expertise in the space sector: it was he who built the Starliner capsule. He was also the one who co-built the Atlas V rocket with Lockheed Martin, as part of their joint venture United Launch Alliance. A new rocket should also succeed it: Vulcan.
When is the Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2 departing?
The mission must leave on the night of Thursday May 19 to Friday May 20, according to the Paris time zone. It will then be 00:54 at the time of take-off. This shot follows a previous unsuccessful test in December 2019. Since then, Boeing has had to wait more than 880 days to try its luck again, depending on imponderables and calendar concerns.
Where to see the Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2 live?
The US space agency will broadcast the Starliner liftoff on its YouTube channel. The antenna will be taken from 10 p.m. for the pre-launch conference and it is planned to connect to Cape Canaveral at midnight. The programs will follow one another until 3:30 am, and a little beyond, with a post-launch press briefing.