A new unmanned test mission of Boeing's space capsule, Starliner, is due to take place on Tuesday.
This attempt comes after a first failure in 2019. Starliner will eventually serve as a taxi to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
The spacecraft is due to launch into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida (United States) at 1:20 p.m. (7:20 p.m. in Paris), aboard an Atlas V rocket built by the United Launch Alliance consortium.
The mission, dubbed “Orbital Flight Test-2” (OFT-2), will be broadcast live on the site of NASA, the US space agency.
🚀 Tomorrow, a @Commercial_Crew spacecraft launches on a flight test to the @Space_Station! @ BoeingSpace's #Starliner is scheduled for liftoff on a @ULALaunch rocket at 1:20 pm ET (17:20 UT).
Tune in starting at 12:30 pm ET (16:30 UT) as we #LaunchAmerica: https://t.co/z1RgZwQkWS pic.twitter.com/7GnZrO3XgI
- NASA (@NASA) August 2, 2021
About 30 minutes after takeoff, the Starliner capsule will activate its thrusters to enter orbit and head towards the ISS, a journey that should last about a day and end at 1:37 p.m. (7:37 p.m. in Paris) Wednesday, with the equipment.
"We prepared as best as possible"
Weather reports, which mention clouds and potential lightning, predict a 60% chance that the launch will take place. The test mission was due to take place last Friday but had to be postponed to this Tuesday after a Russian science module unexpectedly activated its thrusters after docking with the ISS, changing its orientation.
After ending its own space shuttle program in 2011, NASA secured the services of Boeing and SpaceX so as to no longer need Russian rockets to reach the ISS. But Boeing is behind schedule. In December 2019, during a first test flight, his capsule failed to dock with the space station. She had returned to Earth prematurely, constituting a setback for this giant of the aerospace industry. NASA then drew up a long list of recommendations to Boeing, which primarily concerned onboard software, which was the main problem during this first test flight. For its part, SpaceX has taken the lead, and has already sent no less than ten astronauts to the Space Station, including Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, aboard his Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Steve Stich, head of NASA's commercial flights program, told reporters last week that he was confident this time around. “We want it to go well, we expect it to go well and we have prepared as best we can,” he said. “Starliner is a great vehicle, but we know how difficult it is, and it's also a test flight so I'm sure we'll learn something from it. The capsule will carry 180 kg of equipment to the ISS and bring back more than 250 when it completes its mission in the West American desert.