NASA

Highlights:

The long-awaited crewed launch of Starliner has gained increased positivity that its latest launch date will remain on target, following numerous slips since the maiden uncrewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS).

While NASA postponed the NET launch date for the Starliner crew flight test (CFT) is now set for April 14, 2024 due to scheduling reasons, NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) – a traditionally conservative body by nature – cited hope that Boeing’s latest issues with the spacecraft are coming to a close for a launch in April. This was followed by the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) citing the specific launch date target.

Starliner completed two uncrewed flight tests, with the first being the infamous mission in December 2019, which revealed numerous software problems and failed to reach the International Space Station (ISS).

The second was Orbital Flight Test-2, which docked to the Station on May 21, 2022, following a launch two days prior from Kennedy.

On the software side, qualification testing of the CFT flight software is completed. Hardware and software integration testing is still ongoing at Boeing.

On the pure hardware side, Starliner´s crew and service module are already mated with normal preflight processing coming up.

The ULA Atlas V rocket is already at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and the integration process with the spacecraft should begin soon after a successful drop test.

Hopefully Boeing can finally get their act together... only a few years behind schedule!