after months of setbacks one of the
summer's most anticipated space flights
is finally ready for takeoff boeing's
starliner crew capsule is scheduled to
launch to the iss
and if all goes well this uncrewed
mission will pave the way for crude
missions later this year
and prove that boeing has what it takes
to help reinvent commercial human
spaceflight
boeing is in a unique position it's one
of the most well-established aviation
companies in the biz
and also one of a number of private
companies vying to be a leader in
commercial space flight
in 2014 the company was awarded a
massive contract by nasa to send
crude flight missions up to the iss but
it wasn't the only one right around the
same time spacex
also got a similar contract from nasa
and they hit the ground
running on may 30th 2020 spacex became
the first
ever private company to send a crew to
the iss
and this also marked the first time that
astronauts had launched into space
from u.s soil since nasa ended its space
shuttle program in 2011.
now boeing on the other hand has been
struggling to get their crew capsule
off the ground with a classic shape and
a sleek
modern interior boeing's starliner is
nothing short of impressive
it's designed to be reusable up to 10
times and it's capable of holding up to
seven passengers or a mix of crew and
cargo
and it's the first us-built craft
certified for land-based returns
but back in 2019 boeing launched the
capsule's first
test flight on top of a united launch
alliance atlas v
rocket and just 30 minutes into that
uncrewed flight
things started to go a little sideways
starliner actually ended up
in the wrong orbit and missed the iss
entirely
this was a devastating blow to both
boeing and nasa
as it meant that they would have to push
back their plans to send astronauts into
orbit
as part of the agency's commercial crew
program
following review of the flawed test nasa
found 80 corrective actions that boeing
could take to make things better
one of the major issues to fix was
starliner's timing system
because getting the liftoff countdown
right is
important a glitch was also found in the
software that controls the separation of
the crew
and service modules just before they
re-entered the atmosphere
and other recommendations included
adding more integrated testing and
simulations
and making updates to various software
and other processes
and after a long 18 months of work to
make those changes
nasa and boeing are finally ready to
launch orbital flight test
2. just like before starliner will ride
atop the atlas 5 rocket
and its main engine delivers nearly 4
meganewtons of thrust
at sea level and each of its two
boosters deliver roughly 1.5 meganewtons
of thrust at liftoff
about four and a half minutes into the
flight atlas v will separate from the
dual engine
centaur upper stage which provides that
additional thrust that's necessary to
get starliner
into orbit a launch vehicle adapter
attaches the capsule
to the rocket and includes a metallic
skirt to make the vehicle
more aerodynamic but after the booster
stage separates
the skirt will fly off too and allow
starliner to continue
onto the iss on its own once there it'll
stay for about a week
demonstrating its docking capabilities
before coming back down to earth
unlike spacex's crew capsule which lands
in the water
boeing's starliner is designed to land
on solid ground
using a series of parachutes and airbags
this expedites the return of any crew
cargo or
research samples and it makes it a lot
easier for the whole craft to be reused
for next time
it almost goes without saying that if
orbital flight test 2 goes well
it'll mark a major milestone for nasa's
commercial crew program
it'll be the first time that boeing's
starliner gets a chance to fully
demonstrate its capabilities and
prove that it has what it takes to
safely fly a crew
in the future which nasa is already
hoping will happen
in late 2021 so fingers crossed it goes
right this time around
curious to know how boeing's competitors
spacex got their flights up and running
so quickly
and check out our countdown to launch
episode on the company's demo 2 mission
and if there's any other space flight
news you want us to cover let us know
down in the comments
make sure you subscribe to seeger and as
always thanks for watching
i'll see you in the next one