The Starliner Spacecraft Is Now Atop Its Launch Vehicle for Orbital Flight Test-1!

Boeing and United Launch Alliance

Boeing Starliner Placed Atop United Launch Alliance Rocket for First Flight (Press Release)

Spacecraft being prepared for uncrewed flight test to International Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Nov. 21, 2019 — Boeing’s new CST-100 Starliner is now connected to the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket that will launch the spacecraft on its first flight test to the International Space Station. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is targeted for Dec. 17.

Starliner was mated to the rocket’s upper stage in ULA’s Vertical Integration Facility after being transported this morning from Boeing’s assembly building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. On Dec. 15, two days before launch, Starliner and its Atlas V will move a final half-mile to its launch pad.

“Our team successfully completed the transport and mating of two incredible vehicles,” said Boeing Starliner Vice President John Mulholland. “Safety and mission success come down to ensuring the integrity of every step along the way. I could not be more proud of the Starliner team and the dedication put forward to get here today.”

Combined, Starliner and the Atlas V stand 172 feet (52 meters) tall. The rocket generates about 1.6 million pounds of thrust at launch. The Atlas V, built in Alabama, has completed 80 successful launches since 2002.

The first Starliner flight to the International Space Station, which Boeing also built and sustains for NASA, will carry only cargo for its few-day docked stay. The second flight test, using a different spacecraft, will take Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson, along with NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann, to the station for a longer mission.

The reusable Starliner capsule is being developed in collaboration with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which will return America’s ability to launch people to low Earth orbit from American soil for the first time since Ferguson commanded the final space shuttle mission in 2011.

Source: Boeing

Artemis 1 Update: The SLS Core Stage Booster Is Now Whole!

NASA / Eric Bordelon

All Four Engines Are Attached to the SLS Core Stage for Artemis I Mission (News Release)

All four RS-25 engines were structurally mated to the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for Artemis I, the first mission of SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft. To complete assembly of the rocket stage, engineers and technicians are now integrating the propulsion and electrical systems within the structure.

The completed core stage with all four RS-25 engines attached is the largest rocket stage NASA has built since the Saturn V stages for the Apollo Program that first sent Americans to the Moon. The stage, which includes two huge propellant tanks, provides more than 2 million pounds of thrust to send Artemis I to the Moon. Engineers and technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans attached the fourth RS-25 engine to the rocket stage Nov. 6 just one day after structurally mating the third engine. The first two RS-25 engines were structurally mated to the stage in October.

After assembly is complete, crews will conduct an integrated functional test of flight computers, avionics and electrical systems that run throughout the 212-foot-tall core stage in preparation for its completion later this year. This testing is the first time all the flight avionics systems will be tested together to ensure the systems communicate with each other and will perform properly to control the rocket’s flight.

Integration of the RS-25 engines to the massive core stage is a collaborative, multistep process for NASA and its partners Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, and Aerojet Rocketdyne, the RS-25 engines lead contractor.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Boeing / Aerojet Rocketdyne