Boeing’s Starliner space taxi is due to be sent to the International Space Station for the first time early Friday — and although the only crew on board this time is a mannequin, the real astronauts who’ll take the next turn are tracking every move.
“As flight testers … this is a dream come true,” NASA astronaut Mike Fincke told reporters at a pre-launch briefing. “Very rarely does it come where you get a brand new spacecraft to go look at and test.”
Starliner’s maiden liftoff, atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, is scheduled for 6:36 a.m. ET (3:36 a.m. PT) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. If ULA has to pass up Friday’s launch opportunity due to technical concerns or weather — for example, gusty winds — the next opportunity would come early Saturday.
“Everyone think calm thoughts,” ULA’s CEO, Tory Bruno, said in a tweet.
If the uncrewed mission to the space station and back goes well, that would set the stage for Fincke, fellow NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Boeing test pilot Chris Ferguson to fly to the station in early 2020 for a follow-up mission that could last several months. That would be good news for officials at NASA and the White House, who are anxious to get U.S.-made spacecraft flying to the space station for the first time since the space shuttles were retired in 2011.
“We’re going to launch American rockets and spacecraft from American soil to get American astronauts to the International Space Station,” NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard told GeekWire in a pre-launch interview. “And in the scheme of things, it’s really a major step for our space economy.”
Once Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon are in full operation, NASA will be able to phase out the tens of millions of dollars paid out to the Russians for each seat the agency buys on Soyuz spacecraft. Those fares will go to Boeing and SpaceX instead. NASA also expects Boeing and SpaceX to attract private-sector customers.
“We’re trying to expand the economy in low Earth orbit, and at the same time work to lower the costs and increase the access to more people and more science than ever before in space,” Morhard said.
In that respect, Starliner’s uncrewed mission — known as the Orbital Flight Test — serves as a dress rehearsal, not only for journeys by NASA astronauts but for commercial space trips as well. With NASA’s blessing, Boeing intends to sell the “fifth seat” on Starliner capsules to paying customers who’ll ride alongside government-supported crews. In addition, Boeing could eventually use Starliner as a transport to commercial outposts in low Earth orbit.
Watch NASA’s Starliner coverage, starting at 5:30 a.m. ET (2:30 a.m. PT):
Rosie the Rocketeer is ready
All that comes later, however. This time around, the closest thing to an onboard crew member is an instrument-laden test dummy nicknamed Rosie the Rocketeer. The mannequin, officially known as an “anthropomorphic test device,” has been outfitted in a blue Boeing spacesuit for the weeklong trip. It’s also wearing a red head scarf as a tribute to Rosie the Riveter, the muscle-flexing World War II icon.
“She’s pretty tough,” Fincke said. “She’s going to take the hit for us.”
A similar test dummy, nicknamed Ripley, was strapped inside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon for its first uncrewed test flight to the space station and back in March.
Like SpaceX’s test flight, the Starliner flight will trace the steps that’ll be followed during future crewed flights. During the ascent to orbit, engineers will be monitoring the performance of the Atlas 5’s emergency detection system, just to make sure it would function properly if the launch abort system had to come into play. About 14 minutes after launch, Starliner will separate from the Atlas Centaur upper stage, fire its own engines and head to orbit for a series of maneuvering tests.
A day after liftoff, the craft will make a robotic rendezvous with the space station and dock with the space station’s U.S.-built Harmony module. Once the hatches are opened, the space station’s crew will collect data and unload about 600 pounds of cargo, reportedly including holiday goodies.
Starliner is due to remain docked to the space station for just shy of a week. If all goes according to plan, the craft will be set loose late on Dec. 27 and head for a parachute-assisted, airbag-cushioned landing at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico early Dec. 28.
The rocket road ahead
It’ll take several weeks to conduct the post-landing mission analysis and determine if Starliner is good to go. A different craft will carry the first crew, but the spacecraft for the uncrewed flight is due to be refurbished for use by the following crew.
“This spacecraft means a lot to us,” said NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who’s due to be on that follow-up mission with NASA crewmate Josh Cassada and two astronauts from other countries.
Separately, SpaceX is scheduled to conduct an in-flight abort test of a Crew Dragon spacecraft no earlier than Jan. 11. The results of that test will determine when NASA’s crew members can truly fly on the Crew Dragon for the first time.
The first crew to launch on a U.S.-built spacecraft from U.S. soil will be able to collect a special memento that Ferguson left behind on the space station he was the commander of the last space shuttle mission in 2011: a small American flag.
Ferguson — who went from NASA to Boeing shortly after that flight — said he never thought it’d take nine years for someone to capture that flag.
“It’s been a long time,” he told reporters gathered near Kennedy Space Center’s countdown clock. “It’s been eight and a half years, far too long in my opinion. But here we are right on the threshold of getting ready to do it. Not one, but two companies, and opportunities abound — not only for our NASA customers, but also for other potential customers who might come from any walk of life.”
Ferguson said some of those customers might well come from other countries to take part in America’s renewed space adventure.
“It’s very interesting here, as we sit on the threshold of a new business,” he said. “We’re counting on, to coin an old phrase, ‘If we build it, will they come?’ I would like to believe that the answer is yes.”