Sebuah Boeing Starliner berhasil merapat di Stasiun Luar Angkasa Internasional untuk pertama kalinya

Kapal awak Boeing Starliner terlihat beberapa saat setelah berlabuh ke pelabuhan depan Stasiun Luar Angkasa Internasional pada modul Harmony. Kredit: NASA TV

Pesawat ruang angkasa Boeing CST-100 Starliner berhasil merapat di modul Harmoni Stasiun Luar Angkasa Internasional untuk pertama kalinya pada 20 Mei 2022, pukul 20:28 EDT (17:28 PT). Starliner meluncurkan roket United Launch Alliance Atlas V dalam uji terbang ke Stasiun Luar Angkasa Internasional pada pukul 18:54 Kamis, 19 Mei dari Space Launch Complex 41 di Cape Canaveral Space Force Station di Florida.

Pesawat ruang angkasa Boeing Starliner tak berawak merapat di Stasiun Luar Angkasa Internasional pada 20 Mei setelah diluncurkan dari Stasiun Angkatan Udara Cape Canaveral di Florida pada 19 Mei. Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2) Boeing akan tetap berada di stasiun untuk menyelesaikan serangkaian. Sebuah target uji sebelum meninggalkan kompleks pada 25 Mei di mana ia akan mendarat di White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico. Penerbangan uji ini merupakan pendahulu dari uji terbang Starliner berawak di masa depan. kredit:[{” attribute=””>NASA

NASA will host a media teleconference to give an update on Starliner’s progress tonight at approximately 9:30 p.m. Friday, May 20 where it will be streamed live on NASA’s website. Participants include:

• Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator, NASA Space Operations Mission Directorate
• Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
• Joel Montalbano, manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program
• Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, Boeing Commercial Crew Program

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft approaches the International Space Station on the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission. Credit: NASA TV

Starliner’s hatch opening is scheduled to begin at approximately 11:45 a.m. Saturday, May 21. Coverage of hatch opening will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

Saturday, May 21

• 11:30 a.m. – NASA TV hatch opening coverage begins
• 11:45 a.m. – (approximately) Hatch opening and welcoming remarks

Starliner is scheduled to depart the space station Wednesday, May 25, when it will undock and return to Earth, with a desert landing in the western U.S. The spacecraft will return with more than 600 pounds of cargo, including Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System reusable tanks that provide breathable air to station crew members. The tanks will be refurbished on Earth and sent back to station on a future flight.

Following certification, NASA missions aboard Starliner will carry up to four crew members to the station, enabling the continued expansion of the crew and increasing the amount of science and research that can be performed aboard the orbiting laboratory.

OFT-2 will provide valuable data for NASA certifying Boeing’s crew transportation system for regular flights with astronauts to and from the space station.