Starliner Aims for Dec 20 Orbital Flight Test After Good Wet Dress Rehearsal

The Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew capsule atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas-V rocket atop Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral AFS on Dec 6, undergoing a major practice countdown Wet Dress Rehearsal for a launch attempt on the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test to and from the International Space Station as soon as Dec 20. Photo Credit: Boeing



NASA, Boeing and United Launch Alliance (ULA) have had one busy week at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41), where operations have been in full swing in preparation to launch America’s next crew capsule on its inaugural flight later this month on a major uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT) to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

Boeing’s Starliner is one of two crew capsules seeded under a multi-billion dollar NASA contract with the space agency’s Commercial Crew Program, awarded to Boeing and SpaceX in 2014. On Nov 21, after years of development and testing, the first space-worthy Starliner was rolled out of Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility and transported to SLC-41 to meet its rocket.

The CRS-19 launch will come just days before the scheduled 17 December mission of the unpiloted CST-100 Starliner. Photo Credit: Jeff Seibert / AmericaSpace

Coming on the heels of a successful milestone Pad Abort Test, the upcoming OFT will put the spacecraft through its paces to and from the International Space Station, same as what SpaceX did earlier this year with Crew Dragon on Demo-1, in order to provide valuable data on the end-to-end performance of the rocket, Starliner and ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking and landing operations, before NASA will certify Starliner and board their first astronauts in mid 2020.

Riding atop a motorized payload transporter at a blazing speed of 5 mph, Starliner arrived at the doors of the rocket’s 30-story Vertical Integration Facility and was secured to a four-point lifting sling (called a Handling Fixture Hoist Tool), before being carefully hoisted with a crane to be placed atop the Atlas-V rocket.

Work then got underway with an Integrated Systems Test, a tip-to-tail electrical check of the rocket and Starliner stack to verify all elements were communicating properly, ahead of rolling out the 172-foot tall rocket and spacecraft for the first time for a major practice countdown Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR).

It was scheduled for Dec 5, but slipped a day due because SpaceX had the range prioty next door on SLC-40 to launch NASA’s latest cargo resupply mission to the ISS. So, on Dec 6, the fully fueled rocket, spacecraft, ground support equipment and launch teams around the country conducted a full run-through of the launch countdown, just without actually igniting the engines and lifting off.

Attaching Starliner to its Atlas V rocket inside ULA’s ‘VIF’ for the OFT launch. Photo: ULA / NASA

It’s called an Integrated Day of Launch Test, or IDOLT, and has always been standard for human spaceflight; similar rehearsals were done prior to every space shuttle mission too, known as Terminal Countdown Demonstration Tests.

The astronaut Crew Arm, their bridge from the Crew Tower to board Starliner, was deployed to its spacecraft for the first time, a moment celebrated by all including the astronauts rostered for the first crewed missions.

Just a little #OFT video from last night. Swinging the Crew Access Arm… pic.twitter.com/Pc7wPw59ej — Tory Bruno (@torybruno) December 4, 2019

#AtlasV checkout tomorrow for a launch later this month. Looking good at SLC-41. Go #Starliner! Go #AtlasV ! pic.twitter.com/KQFkzxH3vW — Col. Mike Fincke (@AstroIronMike) December 6, 2019

For the WDR the Atlas V was fueled up same as on launch day, loaded with liquid oxygen and a form of rocket-grade kerosene called RP-1, followed by fueling of its Centaur upper stage with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. Fully fueled the rocket weighed in at nearly 980,000 pounds.

It was then time for Boeing’s ‘Blue Team’ to enter the pad to rehearse their procedures to ready the Starliner itself, simulating the future process just as if there was a real crew boarding.

A peek inside the @Commercial_Crew Access Arm white room as our team practices preparing #Starliner for OFT during our Integrated Day of Launch Test. This practice is important. On launch day, this team has to have everything done right on time or we’re not flying. pic.twitter.com/cZoer0Rbj1 — Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) December 6, 2019

Teams from Boeing ULA and NASA all did their part from several different locations, including ULA’s Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC) near the launch pad; Boeing’s Mission Control Center (BMCC) at nearby Kennedy Space Center; and the flight control room inside the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.

The ULA team inside the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center for the Starliner WDR. Photo: ULA



Check out our team at work in the Boeing Mission Control Center at @NASAKennedy right now. Today our team is busy with the #Starliner #AtlasV first-ever Integrated Day of Launch Test. It's our last launch rehearsal where we do everything but light the engines! pic.twitter.com/NmP5gUr92j — Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) December 6, 2019

On launch day everyone will go through the paces again, except next time it will be for real.

From Florida to Houston, practice during today's Integrated Day of Launch Test helps us make sure we're ready! Flight controllers at @NASA_Johnson will give #Starliner a "go" for launch for a safe start to the #OFT mission. Next time all teams are "go," we will have liftoff! pic.twitter.com/dRPUPPN9i5 — Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) December 6, 2019

NASA Astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann and Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson, slated to fly on Boeing’s first ctewed mission next year on the Crew Flight Test (CFT), monitored the WDR from consoles in the ASOC and BMCC.

yRetired USAF Colonel and current veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, slated to fly on next year’s Crew Flight Test, monitoring the WDR from Boeing’s Mission Control Center at KSC. Photo: NASA



Boeing spacecraft technicians working on the CST-100 Starliner which will launch on the company’s first crewed mission, the Crew Flight Test, as soon as mid 2020. Photo: Mike Killian / Americaspace.com

Following a successful WDR, the rocket was drained of fuel and safed, before being rolled back to the VIF, where work will be done to ready for launch, including installing the fairings (nose cones) for the Solid Rocket Booster at the base of the Atlas V.

Atlas V with Starliner rolling back into the VIF after a successful WDR, for final processing for launch on the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test as soon as Dec 20. Photo: ULA

Launch is currently targeted for 6:36 a.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 20

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