Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test, 17:25 Saturday 1 June

Quantum Erasure

TODAY - For the first time, Boeing will launch astronauts to the International Space Station aboard their Starliner spacecraft at 9:25am PT 16:25 UTC.

If mission success, NASA will finally have 2 modes of access to orbit for redundancy.

NASA reported a 1-in-295 probability loss-of-crew during this mission, the NASA requirement is 1-in-270.

The astronauts will spend about a week aboard the ISS to validate Starliner systems before returning to Earth.

https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/nasas-boeing-crew-flight-test-launch/

coverage starts at 1:15pm

after about 5 different postponed launch dates in the last month, lets hope this goes smoothly

Quantum Erasure

This launching in about three hours, crew arriving at launchpad about 5 mins

https://www.youtube.com/live/XxPahOMOTmw?si=aJe755aGgTGPXT50

Quantum Erasure

thread bump

T minus 1 hour

cnocbui

Hope they double checked those misbehaving valves properly.

AMKC

Looks like thet have a problem. Countdown being delayed.

Itssoeasy

And after all go. The clock is stopped with 4 minutes to go.

Quantum Erasure

They line up for when the ISS is flying overhead, so that's a scrub for today

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122210528#Comment_122210528

and after the speech the commander gave and all.

AMKC

If you were an astronaut in this would you be confident? I sure as hell would not be.

Itssoeasy

so the joke with the planes is if it’s Boeing I’m not going. The star liner version is if it’s Boeing it’s not going.

Quantum Erasure

For a while there last week Spacex starship has their next integrated flight test scheduled no earlier than today, and it was looking like there could be two launches on the one day,

that got pushed to the 5th, now 6th, maybe this'll be a 24 hour delay, or we could have both the same day after all…

manaboutlab

If its Boeing, it's probably not going…

cnocbui

I think this 'if it's Boeing, it's not going' meme is pretty stupid.

Things made by them usually go just fine, it's the coming back they have issues with. If you are extra lucky, they come back minus only non-vital parts.

Inquitus

Any idea of this is going today or will it be more than a 24 hour delay? Been trying to watch this launch for what seems like forever at this point, scrub after scrub.

Quantum Erasure

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122212602#Comment_122212602

"NASA, Mission Partners Forego June 2 Launch of Crew Flight Test

NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) are forgoing a Crew Flight Test launch attempt Sunday, June 2, to give the team additional time to assess a ground support equipment issue at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex-41 in Florida.

Saturday’s launch was to carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to and from the International Space Station scrubbed due to an observation of a ground launch sequencer. The system was unsuccessful in verifying the sequencer’s necessary redundancy.

ULA will assess the ground support equipment overnight, and NASA will provide an update June 2 on next steps for the flight. The next available launch opportunities are Wednesday, June 5, and Thursday, June 6."

Quantum Erasure

Next launch attempt tomorrow at 15:52 Irish time

Coverage starts here 11:45 am,

https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/nasas-boeing-crew-flight-test-launch/

Quantum Erasure

Just under an hour to go

AMKC

2 minutes to go.

50 seconds to go

20 seconds to go

10 seconds to go

LLift off:)

Itssoeasy

better late then never.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Orbital insertion done … let's go to the pub!

<edit to add> I know I'm being facetious. It is a great achievement by many hundreds of people. Well done to all concerned and enjoy the celebrations!

Quantum Erasure

@SpoxSpace

18m

Boeing CFT | Starliner is in manual flight. They are individually hot firing each failed thruster and using manual control to dampen the thrust.

This is a test flight, the crew are in no danger.

The failed thrusters are in the service module.

@genejm29·19m#Starliner - Thruster B1A3 was just hot fired, when asked if the crew felt anything as a result of the test, Suni Willams saying " not specifically"

Hot fire test is complete. 4 thrusters were tested, Crew heard all but 1 thruster.

Quantum Erasure

Docked safely

Itssoeasy

so just on this launch there were two scrubbed attempts, and yes they docked, but it seems it was more then one trusted that didn’t fire.

Quantum Erasure

Like climbing Everest, it's not a success until you make it back down

@space_station

@NASA and @BoeingSpace teams set a return date of no earlier than Tuesday, June 18, for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. The additional time in orbit will allow the crew to perform a spacewalk on Thursday, June 13, while engineers complete #Starliner systems checkouts.

Quantum Erasure

Another delay to the return journey

Quantum Erasure

return moved to no earlier than June 25th now

Quantum Erasure

It'll be at least July before any return is attempted

https://blogs.nasa.gov/boeing-crew-flight-test/2024/06/21/nasa-boeing-adjust-timeline-for-starliner-return/

“We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “We are letting the data drive our decision making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking. Additionally, given the duration of the mission, it is appropriate for us to complete an agency-level review, similar to what was done ahead of the NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 return after two months on orbit, to document the agency’s formal acceptance on proceeding as planned.”

A media telecon with mission leadership will follow the readiness review’s conclusion, and the agency will share those details as they are solidified. Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft remains cleared for return in case of an emergency on the space station that required the crew to leave orbit and come back to Earth.

Mission managers are evaluating future return opportunities following the station’s two planned spacewalks on Monday, June 24, and Tuesday, July 2.

Itssoeasy

If I was part of the Boeing commercial astronaut crew, I wouldn’t get on the next crewed mission. It took several attempts to get it off the launch pad, then on the flight to the ISS there’s helium leaks and trusters not working properly.

Quantum Erasure

...

https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-praises-boeing-starliner