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Boeing and NASA Target December for Second Try at Uncrewed Orbital Demonstration Flight

posted by martyb on Tuesday September 01 2020, @08:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the if-at-first-you-don't-succeed... dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Boeing and NASA target December for second try at uncrewed orbital demonstration flight – TechCrunch:

NASA and Boeing have provided some updates around their Commercial Crew plans, which aim to get Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft certified for regular human flight. The CST-100 and Boeing's Commercial Crew aspirations hit a snag last year with a first attempt of an uncrewed orbital flight test, which did not go to plan thanks to a couple of software errors that led to an early mission ending, and a failure to reach the International Space Station as intended.

In a blog post on Friday, NASA said that it and partner Boeing were aiming to fly the re-do of that uncrewed test no earlier than December 2020. This will involve flying the fully reusable Starliner CST-100 without anyone on board, in a live, fully automated simulation of how a launch with crew would go, including a rendezvous and docking with the ISS on orbit, and a return trip and controlled landing and capsule recovery.

[...] Provided OFT-2 goes as intended for Boeing, Starliner could be ferrying its first passengers for a crewed demonstration launch as early as June 2021, with plans for a first operational mission now set for December 2021. All these dates are subject to change, of course.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Samantha Wright on Tuesday September 01 2020, @08:43PM (3 children)

    by Samantha Wright (4062) on Tuesday September 01 2020, @08:43PM (#1045081)

    Dear NASA: you crossed the finish line already. You said you wanted:

    NASA's Commercial Crew Program has worked with several American aerospace industry companies to facilitate the development of U.S. human spaceflight systems since 2010. The goal is to have safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the International Space Station and foster commercial access to other potential low-Earth orbit destinations.

    And you got it already, courtesy of Elon Musk, whether you like him or not. At this point it's just painfully obvious the current leadership never expected SpaceX to actually qualify and were just expecting the CCP to be another layer of grease on top of the old bureaucratic aerospace monopoly hand-outs program. This is absolutely the kind of government waste that everyone should oppose.

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by pasky on Tuesday September 01 2020, @09:11PM (2 children)

    by pasky (1050) on Tuesday September 01 2020, @09:11PM (#1045095)

    But SpaceX is ramping up their prices year-to-year. You still want competition.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 02 2020, @09:29AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 02 2020, @09:29AM (#1045309)

      Even then they are still cheaper.

      • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday September 02 2020, @04:55PM

        by Freeman (732) on Wednesday September 02 2020, @04:55PM (#1045473) Journal

        Yes, but monopolies just lead to higher prices. As the monopoly can set their own prices after snuffing out all the competition.

        --
        Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"