Things You Need to Know about Nasa's Boieng Starliner OFT-2
NASA and Boeing are taking another major step in the process of launching a standard human aircraft to the International Space Station for American rockets and spacecraft from American ground with a second unveiled Boeing's CST-100 Starliner pilot as part of the Commercial Crew Program.
NASA’s Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) aims to launch the Starliner spacecraft on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 2:53 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 30, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Starliner is expected to arrive at the space station to arrive at the booth in about 24 hours for more than 400 kilograms of NASA personnel goods and equipment.
The mission will test Starliner's end-of-life power from launch to ship, space re-emergence, and the arrival of the desert in the western United States. OFT-2 will provide important information that will help NASA to secure a Boeing crew transport system to take astronauts to and from the space station.
While no crew will be on the OFT-2 spacecraft, the seat of the Starliner controller will be occupied by Rosie the Rocketeer, Boeing's anthropometric testing tool.
During OFT-1, Rosie was fitted with 15 sensors to gather information about what astronauts would find during the Starliner flight. For OFT-2, the pre-sensory data capture ports connected to 15 Rosie sensors will be used to collect data from sensors located next to the seat pallet, which is the infrastructure that holds all crew seats in place.
As Starliner approaches the space station, NASA and Boeing will ensure data communications and control forces by the station's crew, including the location captured during the Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut and station commander Aki Hoshide. The Starliner will also test the ability to automatically back up during operation in case the problem should occur on the docking axis.
Starliner will also test its vision-based navigation system to be set up independently with the space station. Arrival is scheduled for 3:06 pm on Saturday, July 31, or approximately 24 hours after the launch.
After a successful suspension, Starliner will spend five to ten days in a circular research room before returning to Earth in the western United States. The spacecraft will return with more than 550 kilograms of cargo, including renewable tanks of the Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) that provide breathing air to the staff members of the stations.
OFT-2 is the second aeronautical aircraft of the CST-100 Starliner, and the first of its second crew on Starliner ships. Boeing flies this second road test to prove that the Starliner system meets NASA requirements, including a stop at the space station.
OFT-2 will build on the equipment objectives achieved during the Starliner flight test, including verification:
1. Orbit functioning of avionics, port system, telecommunications and telemetry systems, environmental control systems, solar systems and power systems and generation systems;
2. Operation of navigation, navigation and control systems for Starliner and Atlas V in ascending, orbit, and input;
3. Acoustic and vibration levels, and loading across the Starliner exterior and interior.
4. Launch trigger monitoring.
5. Operation of the Starliner end-to-end mission plan
The OFT-2 mission will also monitor the changes and improvements made to Starliner, and confirm that the system is ready for space flight.
In preparation for OFT-2, NASA and Boeing have completed all the actions recommended by the NASA-Boeing Independent Review Team, developed as a result of the first Starliner test aircraft in December 2019. The review team's recommendations include integrated testing and simulation, processes and operations, software, staff module communication system, and organization. Boeing used all the recommendations, including those that were not mandatory, before the next Starliner flight.
As long as Starliner's second unmanned campaign meets all the required objectives, NASA and Boeing will be looking at opportunities later this year to launch Starliner's first space shuttle, Crew Flight Test (CFT), and NASA astronaut Barry "Butch Wilmore, Nicole Mann, and Mike" they ride.
NASA's Commercial Crew program provides its goal of safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station from the United States in partnership with the American private sector.
This partnership is changing the history of human aviation by opening access to the lower Orbit Earth and the International Space Station to more people, more science, and more commercial opportunities. The space station remains the basis for NASA's next major spacecraft exploration, including future missions to the Moon, and finally to Mars.