The First launch we reported about on Wednesday went as scheduled, as the
CRS-30 mission lifted off Thursday at 4:55 PM ET (8-1/2 minute video) verifying the updates to SLC-40 for unmanned flights.
The Cargo Dragon is on its way to the ISS as I write.
Another first that has been on and off for a couple of years is the first
crewed launch of Boeing's Starliner capsule, and that one is apparently on again. While
the schedule isn't necessarily solid,
it could be as early as May 1.
At a series of briefings March 22, NASA and Boeing officials said preparations for the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission are proceeding well, with a launch scheduled for no earlier than May 1. That schedule is driven by the ISS manifest of visiting vehicles, which earlier this month delayed the mission from late April.
That mission will send NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the station, where they will spend about eight days before returning to land in the southwestern United States. The flight will take place nearly two years after a second uncrewed flight test, OFT-2, that also docked with the station.
If you're like me, you're probably thinking, "wait... what year was SpaceX's equivalent first manned flight?" It was 2020; May 30, to be precise. With a bit of luck, Boeing won't need to delay this crewed flight to be more than four years after the competition. The competition that all the smart people knew would fail and Boeing would save the day.
Boeing and SpaceX were both tasked by NASA in 2014 to create new commercial crew vehicles, with billions of dollars of funding. (Boeing received $4.2 billion while SpaceX received $2.6 billion in those deals.) SpaceX Crew Dragon's first astronaut flight flew in 2020. In the four years since, the company has sent 11 missions to ISS: Eight long-duration professional astronaut missions led by NASA, and three short-duration excursions paid by Axiom Space with a range of people on board.
Boeing did a second Orbital Test Flight that SpaceX didn't need to do because their first OFT went so badly, they were lucky to get the capsule back to inspect. While searching for dates of this Flight Test I ran into projections that they'd be where they are now by a series of "No Earlier Than" dates in every year since then.
Commander for the mission, Butch Wilmore, talked about the flight in a way that indicates he's looking forward to it.
“It’s a test pilot’s dream, if you will, everything that we’re doing from start to finish,” said Wilmore at another briefing.
His partner on the flight, Suni Williams, agreed.
One of the people who has waited the longest for CFT is Williams, who was named by NASA in 2015 to a “cadre” of astronauts who would train for the first commercial crew missions. “It’s been a little bit of a timeline” to get to this point just before launch, she said at the briefing, but agreed with Wilmore that flying this mission is a “test pilot’s dream” for her. “I don’t think I would really want to be in any other place right now.”
What was that Heinlein quote about test pilots? Something about jumping out of a window if you gave them rubber soles and bet they could make it?
Boeing workers preparing to fuel the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for its CFT mission launching as soon as May 1. Credit: Boeing
I won't hold my breath on the launch and successful return of the Starliner. Way too many issues over way too many years. I fear it will end up with two dead astronauts. I surely do.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons SpaceX was successful was that they had Dragon 1 (cargo version) to work out all the issues. Of course, losing one on a pad explosion, but no other issues with Dragon Cargo V1.
I'd say, "Better late than never!", but Boeing has sucked up almost twice as much taxpayer money, taken twice as long, and is not as good. How about, never?
ReplyDeleteIt's a darn good thing it was fixed-cost, or it could have ended up costing 10 billion and still have been late and underperforming!