Delays in getting Starliner ready for astronauts accrued due to numerous technical issues, like not reaching the ISS in 2019 due to a software issue, that Boeing, NASA and the CFT astronauts all say have been resolved.
However, because critical systems like life support have not yet been tested with passengers in the spaceship, developmental flights like CFT come with their own set of risks. Nevertheless, NASA keeps a manifest for upcoming six-month ISS rotation flights, similar to SpaceX’s. Starliner-1 will be Boeing’s first, with a projected launch date of early 2025. NASA pilot Michael Fincke, NASA commander Scott Tingle, and astronaut Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency will be travelling on board.
Nappi explained various milestones that will be assessed on CFT: crew comfort, human factors (or how the astronauts interact with the systems), the spacecraft performance during “dynamic” events like launch or docking, and a thorough checkout of systems like communications, thrusters, and navigation.
To be fair, he added, all space missions (even on veteran spacecraft) are like this, as NASA continued to implement improvements to the 30-year-old space shuttle program even as it approached retirement in 2011, he noted. “Every single mission, you learn something. We expect the same from this,” he said.
Assuming CFT’s Starliner and the astronauts return on time in late May, Boeing is ready to jump immediately into the Starliner-1’s preparation. “We’ve already started working those requirements and schedules so that when the vehicle gets back at the end of May, we’ll be ready to hit the ground running,” Nappi said.
Steve Stich, manager for NASA’s commercial crew program, hailed Boeing’s progress in recent years and said Starliner certification appears to be “on a good path” to finish checking off the requirements for future operational missions in November or December, assuming an on-time launch date.
“It kind of needs to happen in about that timeframe to hit the spring [2025] slot,” Stich said, referring to Starliner-1’s expected launch date. NASA and Boeing managers will spend the intervening months examining the flight performance, to see if CFT’s interim human rating certification can be extended to Starliner-1.
Given NASA and Boeing have been working for so many years together, and NASA already certified SpaceX’s Crew Dragon successfully, Stich emphasized all players are familiar with the certification process and requirements. In fact, some items have been closed off already for Starliner-1: Stich estimated that 17 Starliner-1 requirements have been addressed, even before CFT lifts off on the debut astronaut space mission.
