HASith four years behind Space X’s Crew Dragon capsule, it’s finally ready! Ordered by NASA ten years ago, Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation 100 (CST-100) Starliner should finally take off for the first time with NASA astronauts on board, during the night from Monday to Tuesday. A final test flight towards the International Space Station (ISS) which is proving absolutely crucial for the American giant of the aeronautics and aerospace industry.
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Because, not only has Boeing accumulated disappointments on this project entrusted by the American space agency – trajectory error in 2019, valve problem in 2021, difficulty concerning the parachute allowing the return to Earth in 2022-2023 – but it is also facing a series of worrying incidents on its airliners for several months. Failure would therefore be a real catastrophe for him. For NASA, the stakes are also very high: in the current geopolitical context, having a second operational vehicle to transport its astronauts and those of its allies to the ISS would be far from being a luxury.
Two experienced astronauts
Although the teams which reach the station in orbit at an average altitude of 400 kilometers above the Earth have so far had a maximum of four members, the craft is 4.6 m in diameter, for a pressurized volume of 12 meters cubes, can carry up to seven people. For this inaugural flight, only two passengers will take place: two experienced American astronauts, a man Barry Wilmore and a woman Sunita Williams, former US Navy personnel who have already spent two stays each on the ISS.
Their takeoff is scheduled for Monday at 10:34 p.m. from Cape Canaveral in Florida (4:34 a.m. in Paris) thanks to an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance (ULA), the weather promises to be mild. An event which will be commented on and broadcast live by NASA (and visible above) from 12:30 a.m. Tuesday (Paris time). After which, Starliner should then dock with the ISS on Wednesday a little before 7 a.m. (Paris time). He will then stay there for a little over a week. Time to carry out new tests before the two astronauts head back to Earth with him.
If everything has gone well, official operation of the device can then begin, knowing that each of its replicas is designed to be reusable up to ten times. However, if the international space station were to be abandoned in 2030, the Starliner’s career could be short-lived. To extend it, Boeing will then have to manage to convince new private players who plan to operate their own station in Earth orbit in the years to come.
