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Update, 2:30 p.m. EDT: Starliner does not have a landing date and in-flight tests of the booster are expected to happen soon, NASA and Boeing announced. Read our story here.
NASA and Boeing will provide an update on the Starliner capsule’s ongoing astronaut mission today (July 25), and you can watch it live.
The mission, called Crew Flight Test (CFT), launched on June 5, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams toward the International Space Station (ISS) for a planned stay of one week.
Starliner However, it suffered thruster problems and helium leaks during its journey to the orbiting laboratory, and the capsule remains docked to the ISS while mission team members analyze the problems.
We will receive the latest information during today’s press conference, which begins at 11:30 am EDT (3:30 pm GMT). You can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA.
The press conference will have two participants: Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and Mark Nappi, vice president and manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program.
Related: Boeing’s Starliner may remain in space beyond 45-day limit, says NASA
NASA and Boeing engineers recently completed some hot fire tests with a Starliner booster at the White Sands test facility in New Mexico – work that will be discussed during today’s briefing.
“The series of tests involved firing the engine under flight conditions similar to those experienced by the spacecraft during its approach to the space station, as well as multiple firings in cases of stress to what is expected during Starliner undocking and exhaust burnout. orbit that will position the spacecraft for a landing in the southwestern United States,” NASA officials said. said in a statement.
NASA and Boeing have not yet announced a target undocking date for the CFT, which is Starliner’s first crewed flight.
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Boeing developed the Starliner under a multibillion-dollar contract awarded by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program in 2014.
EspaçoX signed a similar deal at the time, to work on a manned variant of its Dragon capsule. Elon MuskThe company launched astronauts to the ISS for the first time in May 2020, in a test flight known as Demo-2. SpaceX is now in the midst of its eighth long-duration operational crewed mission to NASA’s orbiting laboratory.