The target launch date for Boeing’s oft-delayed CST-100 Starliner capsule has been shifted again. The Crewed Flight Test of the vehicle is now targeted for May 21 at 4:14 PM EDT.
According to Boeing, “Starliner teams are working to resolve a small helium leak detected in the spacecraft’s service module traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster. Helium is used in spacecraft thruster systems to allow the thrusters to fire and is not combustible or toxic.”
Atlas V Valve Issue Has Been Repaired
This comes after a scrub on May 6 due to a valve issue with United Launch Alliance’s Centaur upper stage of the Atlas V booster. This necessitated the vehicle being rolled back from the launch pad to the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Space Launch Complex 41. Boeing says that the valve repairs on the Centaur stage are now complete, which implies that the sole reason for the new delay is the new issue with Starliner.
“On May 11, the ULA team successfully replaced a pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur upper stage. The team also performed re-pressurization and system purges, and tested the new valve, which performed normally,” Boeing said in today’s release.
Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
CFT Astronauts Are Back In Houston
Boeing also says that “NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, still in preflight quarantine, returned to Houston on May 10 to spend extra time with their families as prelaunch operations progress.”
Artist’s rendition of Dream Chaser Tenacity on orbit. Graphic: Sierra Space
The maiden flight of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser is a step closer to happening, according to a statement released by the company today. In a press release, Sierra said that that Tenacity — the first flight model of Dream Chaser– ashieved “the successful completion of a rigorous environmental test suite on the Dream Chaser spaceplane, at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio.”
“Successful completion of an incredibly rigorous environmental testing campaign in close partnership with NASA is a significant milestone and puts Dream Chaser on track for operations later this year,” said Sierra Space CEO, Tom Vice. “This is the year that we transition from rigorous research and development to regular orbital operations and – in doing so – transform the way we connect space and Earth.”
Dream Chaser Tenacity Photo: Sierra Space
Tenacity underwent shock, vibration, and thermal vacuum testing at Armstrong to verify its abilities to withstand the rigors of ascent aboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan-Centaur rocket, as well as on-orbit operations after separation from the rocket that boosted it to orbit. The testing took several months and was recently completed, leading to the company’s announcement today.
Sierra Space said that, “The two vehicles were then stacked in launch configuration on the world’s most powerful spacecraft shaker table inside the test center’s Mechanical Vibration Facility. Sine vibration testing – conducted over a five-week period – simulated the intense conditions and environment of a launch on a Vulcan Centaur rocket.”
“After vibe testing concluded, the teams conducted another shock test – this time with the flight separation system between Dream Chaser and Shooting Star – to simulate the dynamic environment during separation of the two vehicles prior to de-orbit and re-entry.”
They added, “Next, the Sierra Space and NASA test teams transported the vehicles to the In-Space Propulsion Facility at Armstrong for thermal vacuum or “T-VAC” testing.
“Temperatures in space can range from the extremely cold – hundreds of degrees below freezing – to several hundred degrees Fahrenheit due to radiation from the sun. TVAC testing is a realistic thermal simulation of the flight environment and critical to ensuring mission success,” Sierra said.
“For more than five weeks, Dream Chaser and Shooting Star were subjected to multiple cold-hot cycles in a vacuum environment, between -150F to +250F, with teams conducting functional tests at temperature plateaus to verify system performance. “
Next, Tenacity will be transported to the Space Systems Processing Facility (SSPF) at Kennedy Space Center for integration and further preparations for launch. According to Sierra, “Remaining work on the thermal protection system will also be completed there.”
A Blue Origin BE-4 being mated to ULA’s second Vulcan Rocket, dubbed CERT-2 in April, 2024 Photo: Tory Bruno on X.
After those steps are completed, the launch campaign can begin in earnest. Sierra Space says that they remain on track for a 2024 launch of Tenacity, and for their part of the mission, United Launch Alliance is finishing assembly of the Vulcan-Centaur rocket that will deliver Tenacity to orbit.
If successful, this second flight will complete Vulcan’s certification for Department of Defense payloads, giving the mission additional importance above and beyond Dream Chaser’s debut. Currently, the launch is slated for late Q3 or early Q4 of this year.
Vulcan CERT-1 launching earlier this year. Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
Atlas V in the gloaming earlier this evening at SLC-41. Photo: NASA
It was all going well until it wasn’t. That’s often the story with launch attempts: tens of thousands of things must work perfectly, perform as planned, and operate normally, and only one thing has to go wrong for the attempt to be called off.
That was the case with United Launch Alliance’s attempt to launch Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner this evening, and with about two hours left in a smooth-running countdown with astronauts already aboard Starliner, the launch attempt was scrubbed. A faulty valve on the Centaur upper stage of Atlas V malfunctioned, and flight rules dictated that the launch attempt be called off.
UPDATE May 7th 7PM: ULA, Boeing and NASA are now targeting Friday May 17th at 6:16 PM EDT for the next launch attempt of Atlas V and Starliner:
Atlas V and Starliner after completing the short journey the launch pad this morning. Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
On a warm morning on one of the first days of summer here on the Space Coast, United Launch Alliance rolled Atlas V and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner “Calypso” from ULA’s Vertical Integration Facility to the launch mount at Pad SLC-41.
Starliner OFT-2 lifts off in 2022. Photo: Charles Boyer, ToT
NASA’s Commercial Crew directorate has announced the results of the Readiness Review for the planned launch of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner flight test: they are “go” for launch at 10:34 PM EDT on May 6.
Jim Free’s Comments
Jim Free, NASA Associate Administrator, began the press conference by saying, “The first crewed flight of a new spacecraft is a absolutely critical milestone. The lives of our crew members Sunny Williams and Butch Wilmore are at stake. We don’t take that lightly at all. The most important thing we can do is protect those two people as well as our crew currently on board the space station. It’s our collective job to ensure we can fly this Mission successfully and to do that it must be safe.”
NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free Photo: X.com
Free continued, saying that he was satisfied that the Readiness Review was thorough and that Starliner, Atlas V and ISS were prepared properly for the test flight. “Safety has always been our primary core value at NASA,” he said, “And it’s our primary focus during this Readiness Review, all the reviews that have led up to it and the entire development process I can say with confidence that the teams have absolutely done their due diligence.”
Free concluded by summarizing the Review results. “There’s still a little bit of close out work to do, but we are on track for a launch at 10:34 Eastern Daylight time on Monday May 6th.”
Free On Starliner and Orion Shared Technology
Free made an interesting statement about the importance of the Starliner flight: some of the technology used in the Boeing capsule is also used in Orion, which is, of course, used in the Artemis program. “There are many elements of this Mission which have similarity to hardware that will fly on Orion. Parachutes, as an example, so this [the Starliner Crewed Flight Test is] important across our entire agency.”
Ken Bowersox Comments
“May 6th is not a magical date. We’ll launch when we’re ready and we’re looking forward to to when that occurs.”
Ken Bowersox
Ken Bowersox, an Associate Administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate made some comments later in the press conference intended to remind everyone that the planned May 6 launch date is a target date, and not one set in stone. Bowersox is a veteran of five spaceflights, and joined the agency in 1987.
Ken Bowersox pictured during STS-73, prior to re-entry. Photo: NASA
“Butch reminded us how important it is to keep working thoroughly at a job all the way till you’re finished,” Bowersox said, “And Suni reminded us that launch dates aren’t magical dates. The important thing is to launch when we’re ready.”
“I can tell you at this review the team worked thoroughly through every bit of data that we had to look at as a management team, and I know that the teams that reviewed that data before it was brought to us looked at it even more closely, so when we polled today the team decided that we are ready to move forward to the Crew Flight Test.”
“Again, May 6th is not a magical date. We’ll launch when we’re ready and we’re looking forward to to when that occurs.”
The prime and backup crews for the upcoming Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test arrived at Kennedy Space Center this afternoon. They landed on the storied Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) formerly known as the ShuttleLanding Facility (SLF) — the same runway that Space Shuttle orbiters returned to at the completion of their missions.
After offering some remarks and answering questions from the press, the crew departed to begin final preparations for their upcoming launch, planned for May 6, 2024, at 10:34 PM EDT. After a successful liftoff and some time in orbit to catch up with the International Space Station, the pair will dock at the orbiting laboratory and stay for about a week.
Wilmore began his remarks by saying, “Suni and I were talking. We love Florida! We love Kennedy Space Center because this is where you launch humans into space.” True, and Wilmore thanked everyone working on the upcoming Starliner launch. “You just want to mention everybody’s name,” he said. Wilmore then pointed out the NASA, Boeing and United Launch Alliance managers present at the arrival and thanked them and the backup crew members and other astronauts working this launch alongside the prime crew.
Flying In: Astronauts and backup crew arrive at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) on April 25, 2024. Photo: Ed Cordero, Florida Media NowArriving in style: Boeing Starliner CFT astronauts flew to Kennedy Space Center using T-38 trainer aircraft. Photo: Charles Boyer / ToTButch Willmore and Suni Williams pulling up to the tarmac today at the Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) at Kennedy Space Center Photo: Charles Boyer / ToTA confident Butch Wilmore greets the crowd awaiting him at KSC today Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
Starliner lifts off on top of an Atlas V as it begins its Orbital Flight Test 2. Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
According to NASA, Flight Readiness Reviews are starting today for the upcoming Boeing Crewed Flight Test of the Starliner Capsule “Calypso.” It is slated to launch with Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard no earlier than May 6, 2024, at 10:34 PM EDT.
In those meetings, reviews of the preparations and technical states of the Atlas V rocket that will carry the capsule, Starliner and NASA will be examined and a determination made afterwards as to mission readiness.
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.
Starliner is already mounted atop Atlas V, and both the launch vehicle and capsule continue to undergo preparations for the launch. As with all launches, there is a lengthy to-do list, and part of the Launch Readiness Review will be to examine where all parties are in the process that leads up to liftoff.
Starliner leaves the Boeing preparation facility at Kennedy Space Center on its way to SLC-41. Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
Astronauts In Quarantine
Wilmore and Williams have entered quarantine, a normal step before a crewed launch: NASA and its ISS international partners want to ensure that new astronauts arriving at the ISS do not bring any communicable illnesses—even a common cold—to the crew already aboard the orbiting outpost.
NASA and Boeing also want to ensure that the crew is fit and ready for launch and orbital activities, which culminate in Starliner docking at the ISS a few days after launch from here on the Space Coast.
This has been done for decades and is part of the regimen of a launch campaign.
NASA does not provide coverage of these internal meetings but will instead announce the findings Thursday at 6 PM EDT when they hold a press conference. Stay tuned.
You can 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. Talk of Titusville will also offer full coverage of events leading up to the launch and the launch itself.
Starliner outside of Boeing’s Starliner facility at Kennedy Space Center on April 16, 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
United Launch Alliance and Boeing transported the CST-100 Starliner capsule from Boeing’s preparation facility aside the VAB early this morning and transported it to SLC-41 for mating to its booster, an Atlas V N22. Launch of the Crewed Flight Test is scheduled for NET May 6, 2024, with an eight day mission planned for crew and spacecraft.
On hand to greet Boeing employees and members of the press were CFT Pilot Sunita “Suni” Williams and CFT Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore. The two thanked everyone for coming out to greet them early in the morning, and they expressed their confidence in a great mission to come. “We’re super proud of this team,” Williams said. “They made it happen, and it’s time to turn [Starliner] over from production to operations.” With that, the pair expressed their readiness to go fly aboard Starliner.
Flight Objectives
Butch Wilmore gives a thumbs-up to onlookers on April 16, 2024. Photo: Ed Cordero / Florida Media Now
First, and foremost, Boeing and NASA mission managers would like to see a relatively event-free maiden crewed flight of Starliner, with no unexpected major incidents. Boeing’s Starliner has flown twice, once in 2019 and once in 2022, and neither time with crew aboard.
The first flight, Orbital Flight Test 1 (OFT-1), in 2019, failed to reach the International Space Station (ISS) after the on-board clock malfunctioned. The second flight, Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2), in 2022 met all of its major objectives and docked with the ISS, where it remained for four days before returning to Earth.
Since the second flight, other problems, including a potentially flammable tape used to wrap the wiring harnesses of Starliner were replaced, issues with parachute lines and its harness were improved and tested, and software improvements were made. Those remediations held up this Crewed Flight Test until earlier this year, and after that, scheduling issues on the International Space Station ports has kept Starliner on the ground.
Now that the ISS docking ports are clear and technical issues have been resolved, Boeing, United Launch Alliance and NASA have begun their launch campaign, which begins in earnest with a planned liftoff no earlier than May 6th.
Starliner wiating transportation outside Boeing’s facility at Kennedy Space Center on April 16, 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
Crewed Flight Test Objectives
Last month, Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Vice President and Program Manager of the Starliner Program outlined what promises to be a busy schedule for Williams and Willmore during the flight. “The CFT flight is really the introduction of crew into our vehicle system. So a lot of our flight test objectives are about how that interface is going to work.”
Nappi said regarding flight test objectives, “We’ve got just under 90 of them. And it’s all, does the vehicle perform with the human in the loop, as expected?”
“We flew OFT-2,” Nappi added, “And that was the uncrewed mission for the Starliner vehicle. It was very successful. Now we introduce the human. And so what are we going to do to establish that interface?”
“From prelaunch through ascent, we’re going to be looking at how the astronauts fit into the seats, how they interface with the equipment in the vehicle. when we go through approach and rendezvous.” After that, Nappi said, “We’ll confirm the thruster performance and manual scenarios are working as expected. We’ll check the communications. We’ll check the manual and auto navigation systems and the operation of the life support system with crew now in the vehicle.”
“CFT is a test flight, so we expect that there may be some lessons learned,” Nappi concluded.
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have been conducting a competition for companies to provide nutritious and tasty food for astronauts on long-term missions, and that competition has been narrowed to five finalists on the American side, with three additional internationally-based competitors rounding out the field. Called the Deep Space Food Challenge, the goal of this competition is to generate novel food production technologies or systems that require minimal resources and produce minimal waste while creating items or cuisine that are actually appealing to the crew.
“The International Space Station is restocked every 60 to 90 days, and we are able to manage the waste generated from those payload deliveries,” said Denise Morris, program manager for Centennial Challenges which is managed out of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “In order to get to Mars and beyond, we must adapt how we feed our crews with no resupply, little added waste and resources, and an ideal level of labor. The solutions derived from the Deep Space Food Challenge will bridge this massive technology gap, allowing us to venture further and longer than we ever have before.”
Two companies with facilities on the Space Coast are among the eight finalists:
Interstellar Labof Merritt Island, Florida, created a modular bioregenerative system for producing fresh microgreens, vegetables, mushrooms, and insects.
Nolux of Riverside, California, created a solution that mimics the photosynthesis that happens in nature to produce plant- and mushroom-based ingredients.
SATED (Safe Appliance, Tidy, Efficient, and Delicious) of Boulder, Colorado, developed a space cooking appliance that would allow astronauts to prepare a variety of meals from ingredients with long shelf lives.
Air Company of Brooklyn, New York, developed a system and processes for turning air, water, electricity, and yeast into food.
The five finalists will each receive $150,000 in prizes from NASA and advance to compete for up to $1.5 million in total prizes in Phase 3.
Additionally, there three internationally-based companies that were selected by NASA and the CSA to participate in Phase 3:
Enigma of the Cosmos of Melbourne, Australia, created an adaptive growing system to increase the efficiency of plants’ natural growth cycles.
Mycorena of Gothenburg, Sweden, developed a system that uses a combination of microalgae and fungi to produce a microprotein.
Solar Foods of Lappeenranta, Finland, created a system that uses gas fermentation to produce single-cell proteins.
Kernel Deltech / Eternal Bio
According to their press release, Kernel Deltech has created a unit that leverages fungi fermentation to create a sustainable, nutrient-rich food source for astronauts on long-duration missions. To accomplish this they have built a device that relies on artificial intelligence and robotics to do much of the work, reducing the complexity and hours required by human astronauts to gain nutrition from the system.
“After winning the previous phase, expectations were high. We are proud to have made it to the NASA final,” said Lucas Gago, Chief Innovation Officer of Eternal. “This technology has the potential to revolutionize the alternative protein industry, both for space exploration and democratizing access to good nutrition here on Earth.” Added Miguel Neumann, who has recently become the Company CEO.
Kernel Deltech says the prototype is no larger than a kitchen appliance and can be easily modularly introduced into habitats and spacecraft.
Interstellar Lab
Nutritional Closed-Loop Eco-Unit System, or NUCLEUS, developed by Interstellar Lab of Merritt Island, Florida, is a self-sustaining food production system yielding fresh greens, vegetables, mushrooms, and insects, which could provide nutrients for long-term space missions. Credits: NASA/Methuselah Foundation
Interstellar has developed a device that they are calling “Nucleus.” According to their marketing materials, they have “developed a closed-loop food-production system that incorporates microgreens, vegetables, mushrooms and insects that covering astronaut food gaps during long-term space missions.”
Interstellar adds that Nucleus passed Phase 1 and Phase 2 prototyping and has been tested at Kennedy Space Center. They add that the Phase 3 prototype will be delivered to NASA between July and October of this year.
Experiments To Grow Plants On ISS Already Ongoing
While the “Deep Space Food Challenge” winners will undoubtedly help extend the variety and efficiencies of astronaut cuisine in space, NASA has already been working on growing food aboard the International Space Station:
The agency states in an article they published that they have been experimenting with a device called “Veggie” that can grow greens for astronauts aboard the orbiting outpost: “The Vegetable Production System, known as Veggie, is a space garden residing on the space station. Veggie aims to help NASA study plant growth in microgravity, while adding fresh food to the astronauts’ diet and enhancing happiness and well-being on the orbiting laboratory.”
Three different varieties of plants growing in the Veggie plant growth chamber on the International Space Station were harvested in 2017. Photo: NASA
“The Veggie garden is about the size of a carry-on piece of luggage and typically holds six plants. Each plant grows in a “pillow” filled with a clay-based growth media and fertilizer. The pillows are important to help distribute water, nutrients and air in a healthy balance around the roots. Otherwise, the roots would either drown in water or be engulfed by air because of the way fluids in space tend to form bubbles.”
“Veggie” is among other prototypes being tested by NASA: “[An] Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), like Veggie, is a growth chamber on station for plant research. It uses LED lights and a porous clay substrate with controlled release fertilizer to deliver water, nutrients and oxygen to the plant roots.”
“Unlike Veggie, it is enclosed and automated with cameras and more than 180 sensors that are in constant interactive contact with a team on the ground at Kennedy, so it doesn’t need much day-to-day care from the crew,” NASA added.
In addition to dwarf wheat and other foods, “Veggie” has grown zinnias, which astronaut Scott Kelly brought back to Earth in 2016.
Astronaut Scott Kelly nursed dying space zinnias back to health on the International Space Station. He photographed a bouquet of the flowers in the space station’s cupola against the backdrop of Earth and shared the photo to his Instagram for Valentine’s Day 2016. Photo: NASA/Scott Kelly
Since Kelly assembled his orbiting bouquet, additional research has been ongoing. Plant research on Station has led to multiple papers in scientific journals, including results from the Seedling Growth investigations, which were subsequently published in Nature.
Also, according to NASA, “Another plant study, the Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC) experiment, tested a system to protect plants by removing viruses, bacteria, and mold from the plant growth chamber. That system has been used in the grocery industry to prolong the shelf-life of fruits and vegetables and in wine storage cellars.”
NASA adds, “To achieve the ultimate goal – growing plants for food in space and for habitats on the Moon and Mars – researchers must develop larger growth systems. The Veg-05 investigation is taking steps toward that goal by examining the effect of light quality and fertilizer on fruit production and analyzing the safety, nutritional value, and taste of the fruit.”
In addition to the work already completed and other work that is ongoing on ISS right now, NASA undoubtedly hopes to add to its portfolio of equipment, techniques and variety of growing foodstuffs in space. That will be vital not only to a long-duration crew’s health, but also their mental well-being. Having a taste of “home” so far away from it will undoubtedly be one of the little pleasures that make travelling interplanetary distances more bearable.
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