Starliner Updates

Boeing Continues Production, Improvements Toward Second Uncrewed Flight Test This Year

Over the summer, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner team has focused on readying the next vehicle for its upcoming test flight and incorporating recommendations that were identified during various reviews completed earlier in the year. While hardware production continues at the company’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, progress is being made on software coding and testing mostly in Houston.

On the production side, teams are well into final assembly of the crew and service modules that will fly the next mission. This will be the first flight of the reusable crew module, and the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) will give operational teams on-orbit experience with both crew modules in the Starliner fleet before astronauts take flight. Of note, recent progress includes NASA docking system cover checkouts, propellant heater installation, landing airbag installation and thermal protection system tile installation. As final production activities continue, the crew module entered an acceptance test, which will prove out the systems on the spacecraft.

The software team is also nearing the final stages of modifying and re-verifying the flight code after the first flight test. The team recently began a major milestone called Formal Qualification Testing. This is the last and most comprehensive test of the flight software and, upon successful completion, the software will be ready for flight.

Nearly 75 percent of the recommendations from the recently completed joint NASA-Boeing Independent Review Team have been implemented. Boeing elected to implement all recommendations even though only the highest of the three priority classifications were deemed mandatory before the next flight.

Boeing and NASA are currently targeting December for the launch of OFT-2, pending hardware readiness, flight software qualification, and launch vehicle and space station manifest priorities. After a successful OFT-2, Boeing and NASA will fly Starliner’s first crewed mission, the Crew Flight Test, in June of 2021, with the first post-certification mission, Starliner-1, tentatively scheduled for December 2021.

Starliner’s OFT-2 crew module in the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, August 2020

NASA and Boeing Complete Orbital Flight Test Reviews

NASA and Boeing have completed major reviews of the company’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test and are continuing with preparations for Orbital Flight Test-2 to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “NASA and … view more... about NASA and Boeing Complete Orbital Flight Test Reviews

Boeing Statement on Starliner’s Next Flight

The Boeing Company is honored to be a provider for the Commercial Crew mission. We are committed to the safety of the men and women who design, build and ultimately will fly on the Starliner just as we have on every crewed mission to space. We have … view more... about Boeing Statement on Starliner’s Next Flight