The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft has taken a significant step toward launch.
Headed for the International Space Station on the company’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test, Starliner last week made the 10-mile trek from the Kennedy Space Center to Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
“This is critical to our future as a nation,” Space Center Director Bob Cabana said in a statement. “We’ve got to get astronauts flying on U.S. rockets from U.S. soil, and this is just a huge step forward.”
Cabana was joined by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) and Boeing leaders, as well as employees and family members, to watch Starliner roll out of the factory on Thursday.
“For the team that has built the first American spacecraft designed to land on land, and to get it rolling out, is absolutely incredible,” according to John Mulholland, vice president and program manager of Boeing Commercial Crew Programs. “Something this complex takes a huge team.”
Secure atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, the spacecraft is ready for its first flight test.
“Look at that amazing sight and what your success looks like,” CCP Manager Kathy Lueders urged workers.
Boeing’s Starliner rolls out from the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (via Boeing)
But the team is not finished yet.
“We’ve got to step into the mission carefully, fly this vehicle up to the Space Station, and bring it home safely,” Lueders said.
The uncrewed flight test, targeted to launch Dec. 17, will provide valuable data on the end-to-end performance of the Atlas V rocket, Starliner spacecraft, and grous systems, as well as in-orbit docking and landing operations.
That information will be used as part of NASA’s process of certifying Boeing’s crew transportation system for carrying astronauts to and from the ISS.
“This is the dawn of a new era,” according to Boeing rocketeer Chris Ferguson—one of three astronauts assigned to the Starliner Crew Test Flight mission—who was on hand to witness the rollout milestone.
“For all of you youngsters … who came out here early to watch, I’m glad you were a part of this,” he said. This is really important because this is your future, too.”
NASA’s Nicole Mann and Mike Fincke (who replaced Eric Boe due to medical reasons) will join Ferguson as the first human crew to pilot Boeing’s Starliner spaceship.
“As graduates of military test pilot schools, we are really excited to see how Starliner’s going to behave,” Fincke said. “We know it’s going to be awesome, and we’re going to get all kinds of really great test data from it.”
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