Boeing CST-Starliner, final test with astronauts on board as early as the end of April

New updates on the development of CST-Starliner, the Boeing solution that should sooner or later support SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in commercial operations directed towards the International Space Station which also include the transport of astronauts. In the past few hours NASA and Boeing held a media conference call to provide an update on the upcoming manned test flight aboard CST-100 Starliner to the International Space Station.

During the occasion, the managers shared some details on the progress of the mission and discussed the next milestones ahead of Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT)which should launch no earlier than mid to late April. CFT will bring forward the final flight test before normal crewed missions to the space station on the next generation system.

The spacecraft’s development faced several delays and failures, such as the second orbital test flight, which saw its thrusters malfunction as it approached the ISS. In the last 3 years we have worked to solve all the problems, software and hardware, and at the moment the Orbital Maneuvering and Attitude Control (OMAC) thrusters are currently the only important element left on the Boeing and NASA checklist before the duo can safely proceed with the manned flight.

The program provides that the spacecraft it will be launched as a payload on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, returning about eight days later to White Sands, New Mexico. The flight will carry two NASA astronaut test pilots, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, on the demonstration flight to demonstrate the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner system.

In the event that the test flight with the astronauts proves successful, NASA will initiate the final process of certifying the Starliner spacecraft and systems, allowing them to participate in regular crew rotation flights to the space station and alongside SpaceX’s solution. Anyone who would like to hear all the details of the teleconference can do so from the link to the Youtube pages that we leave at the end.