Starliner OFT-2 Targeted for May 19

In preparation for Boeing's CST-100 Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), a new service module was mated to a crew module to form a complete spacecraft on March 12 in Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. — In preparation for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), a new service module was mated to a crew module to form a complete spacecraft on March 12 in Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The launch of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on the company’s second uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is targeted for 6:54 p.m. EDT, Thursday, May 19, from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

NASA and Boeing will hold a joint media teleconference at 11 a.m. EDT Tuesday, May 3, to discuss the OFT-2 mission and provide an update on spacecraft readiness.

The teleconference will include the following participants:
·         Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate
·         Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston
·         Dr. Michelle Parker, vice president and deputy general manager, Space and Launch, Boeing
·         Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, CST-100 Starliner, Boeing

Audio of the teleconference will stream live on NASA’s website.

The uncrewed mission will test the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner spacecraft and Atlas V rocket from launch to docking and return to Earth at one of five designated landing zones in the western United States. Following successful completion of the OFT-2 mission, NASA and Boeing will determine a launch window for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT), Starliner’s first flight with astronauts aboard.

OFT-2 and CFT will provide valuable data toward NASA certifying Boeing’s crew transportation system for regular flights with astronauts to and from the space station.