CAPE CANAVERAL: Boeing Co’s new Starliner astronaut capsule is poised for launch of its long-delayed inaugural crewed take a look at flight to the Worldwide Area Station, two years after its first voyage with out people to the orbital laboratory.
The gumdrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner with two astronauts aboard was due for liftoff at 10.34pm (8.04am IST Tuesday) from Nasa’s Kennedy Area Middle in Florida, carried atop an Atlas V rocket furnished by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin three way partnership United Launch Alliance (ULA).
Driving aboard the Starliner, designed to hold as much as seven crew members, are veteran Nasa astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, a retired US navy captain, and Sunita “Sunni” Williams, 58, a former navy aviator and take a look at pilot. They’ve logged a mixed 500 days in area over the course of two missions every to the area station. Wilmore is the designated commander for flight, with Williams within the pilot seat.
Though Starliner is designed to fly autonomously, the crew can assume management of the spacecraft if mandatory, and the take a look at flight requires Wilmore and Williams to follow maneuvering the car manually.
If all goes as deliberate, the capsule will arrive on the area station after a flight of about 26 hours and dock with ISS early Wednesday. Wilmore and Williams are anticipated to stay on the area station for a few week earlier than using the Starliner again to Earth for a parachute and airbag-assisted touchdown within the US – a primary for crewed Nasa missions. The Starliner will give Nasa its first different to sending astronauts to low-Earth orbit from US soil since Elon Musk’s SpaceX started doing so in 2020.
The gumdrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner with two astronauts aboard was due for liftoff at 10.34pm (8.04am IST Tuesday) from Nasa’s Kennedy Area Middle in Florida, carried atop an Atlas V rocket furnished by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin three way partnership United Launch Alliance (ULA).
Driving aboard the Starliner, designed to hold as much as seven crew members, are veteran Nasa astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, a retired US navy captain, and Sunita “Sunni” Williams, 58, a former navy aviator and take a look at pilot. They’ve logged a mixed 500 days in area over the course of two missions every to the area station. Wilmore is the designated commander for flight, with Williams within the pilot seat.
Though Starliner is designed to fly autonomously, the crew can assume management of the spacecraft if mandatory, and the take a look at flight requires Wilmore and Williams to follow maneuvering the car manually.
If all goes as deliberate, the capsule will arrive on the area station after a flight of about 26 hours and dock with ISS early Wednesday. Wilmore and Williams are anticipated to stay on the area station for a few week earlier than using the Starliner again to Earth for a parachute and airbag-assisted touchdown within the US – a primary for crewed Nasa missions. The Starliner will give Nasa its first different to sending astronauts to low-Earth orbit from US soil since Elon Musk’s SpaceX started doing so in 2020.
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