NEWARK, Del., May 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ILC Dover, the leading provider of spacesuits since the Apollo era, today announced that it was selected to be one of two providers of Boeing's Ascent/Entry Suit (AES) for the company's Commercial Crew Program and has developed a bespoke AES spacesuit for CST-100 Starliner crews.
Boeing's next and, as currently planned, final Starliner test flight will carry a crew, who will also wear the David Clark suit, according to a statement released by the company. The ILC AES will be introduced once Boeing begins flying astronauts on NASA-contracted missions to and from the International Space Station in 2023.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ilc-dover-becomes-a-provider-of-ascent--entry-spacesuits-for-boeings-starliner-301555930.htmlQuoteNEWARK, Del., May 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ILC Dover, the leading provider of spacesuits since the Apollo era, today announced that it was selected to be one of two providers of Boeing's Ascent/Entry Suit (AES) for the company's Commercial Crew Program and has developed a bespoke AES spacesuit for CST-100 Starliner crews.First I heard of this. CollectSpace has more: http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-061522a-boeing-ilc-starliner-spacesuit-adam-savage.html QuoteBoeing's next and, as currently planned, final Starliner test flight will carry a crew, who will also wear the David Clark suit, according to a statement released by the company. The ILC AES will be introduced once Boeing begins flying astronauts on NASA-contracted missions to and from the International Space Station in 2023. NASA not happy with David Clark suit?
Quote from: arachnitect on 06/16/2022 01:24 amhttps://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ilc-dover-becomes-a-provider-of-ascent--entry-spacesuits-for-boeings-starliner-301555930.htmlQuoteNEWARK, Del., May 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ILC Dover, the leading provider of spacesuits since the Apollo era, today announced that it was selected to be one of two providers of Boeing's Ascent/Entry Suit (AES) for the company's Commercial Crew Program and has developed a bespoke AES spacesuit for CST-100 Starliner crews.First I heard of this. CollectSpace has more: http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-061522a-boeing-ilc-starliner-spacesuit-adam-savage.html QuoteBoeing's next and, as currently planned, final Starliner test flight will carry a crew, who will also wear the David Clark suit, according to a statement released by the company. The ILC AES will be introduced once Boeing begins flying astronauts on NASA-contracted missions to and from the International Space Station in 2023. NASA not happy with David Clark suit?The ACES was optimised specifically for the Shuttle. Boeing have always being going to use their own suit with Starliner.
Yes, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft really could fly astronauts this yearEarly data reviews of Starliner's first flight look good.by Eric Berger - Jul 1, 2022 3:34pm GMTFive weeks have passed since Boeing's Starliner spacecraft returned from a largely successful test flight to the International Space Station, and the company continues to review data from the mission alongside engineers from NASA.So far, there have been no showstoppers. In fact, sources say, the relatively clean performance of Starliner has increased the possibility that the vehicle could make its first crewed flight this year in December.
At today’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, Susan Helms says NASA and Boeing still reviewing data from the OFT-2 Starliner mission in May. She notes NASA has seen “improved transparency” from the Boeing team, credited to a change in Boeing management and increased staffing.
Boeing disclosed a charge of $93 million in the second quarter for its Starliner astronaut capsule program, bringing the program’s overrun costs to nearly $700 million.The aerospace giant said the latest charge was “primarily driven by launch manifest updates and additional costs associated with OFT-2,” or Orbital Flight Test 2. The second uncrewed flight of Starliner successfully completed a six-day-long mission in May, reaching a critical test objective – docking with the International Space Station – as Boeing prepares for the capsule to carry astronauts.Boeing’s latest Starliner-related charge means the company has absorbed $688 million in costs from delays and additional work on the capsule to date.
If the Starlliner CFT flight is postpone to early 2023. What are the chances of the first operational Starliner flight launching in late 2023?Don't think a Starliner CFT flight past Q1 2023 will allow scheduling operational Starliner flight until 2024.
Quote from: Zed_Noir on 08/12/2022 03:59 amIf the Starlliner CFT flight is postpone to early 2023. What are the chances of the first operational Starliner flight launching in late 2023?Don't think a Starliner CFT flight past Q1 2023 will allow scheduling operational Starliner flight until 2024.I agree. CFT is a one-week mission, and Boeing and NASA have almost certainly agreed on some particular post-CFT analysis schedule that would need to take place after CFT and that leads to NASA certification and acceptance of Starliner. There is time for all that, before a Q4 Starliner-1 mission, but it would be very awkward if some issue arose during the analysis. Therefore, I speculate that NASA will decide to use Crew Dragon instead.
Quote from: DanClemmensen on 08/12/2022 04:15 amQuote from: Zed_Noir on 08/12/2022 03:59 amIf the Starlliner CFT flight is postpone to early 2023. What are the chances of the first operational Starliner flight launching in late 2023?Don't think a Starliner CFT flight past Q1 2023 will allow scheduling operational Starliner flight until 2024.I agree. CFT is a one-week mission, and Boeing and NASA have almost certainly agreed on some particular post-CFT analysis schedule that would need to take place after CFT and that leads to NASA certification and acceptance of Starliner. There is time for all that, before a Q4 Starliner-1 mission, but it would be very awkward if some issue arose during the analysis. Therefore, I speculate that NASA will decide to use Crew Dragon instead.I agree with Dan. They get crew and start prepping like 8-9 months ahead of launch I believe. They'd have to have a crew dragon as a back up which would be really weird (two possible crews and all). Probably more likely to have the first Starliner be the first 2025 flight.
Quote from: deadman1204 on 08/12/2022 02:03 pmQuote from: DanClemmensen on 08/12/2022 04:15 amQuote from: Zed_Noir on 08/12/2022 03:59 amIf the Starlliner CFT flight is postpone to early 2023. What are the chances of the first operational Starliner flight launching in late 2023?Don't think a Starliner CFT flight past Q1 2023 will allow scheduling operational Starliner flight until 2024.I agree. CFT is a one-week mission, and Boeing and NASA have almost certainly agreed on some particular post-CFT analysis schedule that would need to take place after CFT and that leads to NASA certification and acceptance of Starliner. There is time for all that, before a Q4 Starliner-1 mission, but it would be very awkward if some issue arose during the analysis. Therefore, I speculate that NASA will decide to use Crew Dragon instead.I agree with Dan. They get crew and start prepping like 8-9 months ahead of launch I believe. They'd have to have a crew dragon as a back up which would be really weird (two possible crews and all). Probably more likely to have the first Starliner be the first 2025 flight. Your Freudian slip is showing I think you meant 2024.
August 11, 2022 MEDIA ADVISORY M22-111NASA, Boeing to Hold Media Update on Starliner ProgressNASA and Boeing will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Thursday, Aug. 25, to provide an update on the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) to the International Space Station – the first flight with astronauts on the company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.Leadership on the call also will discuss data reviews from Boeing’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 to the space station, which successfully completed in May 2022.The briefing participants are: Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, CST-100 Starliner, BoeingTo participate in the call, media must RSVP to: [email protected] no later than one hour prior to the start of the event. Audio of the teleconference will livestream on NASA’s website.CFT will demonstrate the ability of Starliner and the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket to safely carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. NASA will fly two astronaut test pilots, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams, on the flight test to the space station, where they will live and work off the Earth for about two weeks.Following a successful test flight with astronauts, NASA will begin the final process of certifying the Starliner spacecraft and systems for regular crew rotation flights to the space station.Find out more about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
Currently we are targeting a launch date as early as February of 2023. It's a busy time frame around there, and so early February is likely the best windowms]best window.
As you know, long term, we're planning a Starliner visit once a year. Steve mentioned Suni [Sunita Williams] and Butch [Barry Wilmore]. We expect this mission to be docked about eight days. We're still working the details, but think approximately eight days or so. Butch and Suni, in addition to the Starliner activities, we're going to have them do ISS activities, whether it be research utilization and commercialization work or technology delopment, just like we did with Bob and Doug when they were on their SpaceX test mission.
The OFT-2 flight, we reported after the mission, was very successful and we were very happy with the observed performance of all our hardware, our software, and of course our team. After the flight we did a lot of in-depth post-test analysis. There are 252 FTOs, or Flight Test Objectives, that we had planned, and we went through and looked at all the data associated with all of those FTOs. And we're just wrapping up with the final report now. Matter of fact, we turn it in tomorrow. So based on that analysis we're even more pleased with how the flight performed, and we're very much looking forward to flying crew on CFT next.
Four major areas needing to be looked at and understood really well and then driving some changes for CFT.The first one was the OMAC [Orbital Maneuvering and Attitude Control] thrusters. If you remember, during the flight we had two thrusters that were deselected during orbital insertion. There was very in-depth fault tree analysis that was performed, and it was determined -- or it's being determined and we're working toward flight rationale -- that we had some debris related conditions that resulted in the deselection and reselecting other thrusters to enable the orbital insertion. So we have done all the inspections required on CFT to make sure that that same condition doesn't exist, and we're ready to move toward the flight rationale once we complete all of the fault tree analysis. But we've done everything we need to do on CFT to clear it.
Also on the Service Module and the Crew Module there were RCS thrusters that were deselected as well. We've determined that the main leading cause of that is low inlet pressures and some manifold dynamics that delayed the sensor responses, and those can be remedied by a very small change to the mission data load that's prepared for each mission. So it's really a tweak of timing and tolerances to be able to make sure that doesn't happen to us again. So that's all in work for CFT.
The active thermal conditioning system -- you remember we had some high pump pressures that were detected during the mission. So we've determined that that was due to a restriction of flow through the lines. There were some filters in the system that we've determined are really not required, and so we've removed those filters to alleviate that problem from happening again in the future.
And then in the area of the VESTA [Vision-based, Electro-optical Sensor Tracking Assembly] performance. The VESTA system performed very well, but we found that it was collecting quite a bit of data and was more data than could be managed. So we've altered our flight software to accommodate this increase in data, and that's all part of a software revision that's currently in work.
So all that work, along with the team carefully reviewing the flight software and CFT vehicle, all that has resulted in accepting the conditions for CFT for flight. All this work has been planned into our schedules and we've determined that launch readiness date that Steve talked about in the February time frame. Of course as we get closer to that date we'll be able to get an exact date for you.The preparation of the vehicle on CFT is going extremely well. The Service Module and the Crew Module are on plan, scheduled to be mated in the November time frame. The engineering products, the VCNs [Verification Closure Notices], and all the hazard reports are all in work and we have good plans that get us to support that date in February. And then we have one flight software revision that we're doing that also will support the early February opportunity. Mission operations planning and simulations and training is all in work, and again all will support the schedule. So we're in good shape to execute these plans to be ready for that flight in February.
One other added area is PCM-1 [Post Certification Mission 1]. We have gone through all the same process of baselining our schedules and understanding everything that needs to be completed and we're targeting a Fall opportunity. Both the Crew Module and the Service Module are also in work on the floor, so we have four vehicles in flow in the C3PF [Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility], and when we get closer to vehicle readiness we'll be working a launch date with Steve and company as well.
23:03Tim Fernholz - Quartz: Any non-NASA customers for Starliner in the works? Will Starliner be profitable?Mark Nappi: First priority is meeting commitments to NASA, flying PCM-1 through 6. Second is actively working plans to increase the profitability of the program, from PAM [Private Astronaut Missions] missions (with 5th seat on Starliner) to commercial destinations.
Point of clarification here. I'm certain that the PAMs and the 5th seat are two different opportunities....
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According to NASA's internal schedule, Scott Tingle will now serve as commander of Starliner-1, the first operational mission to ISS. Mike Fincke will be pilot. A third crewmember is TBD. Could fly as early as August 2023 if demo mission goes well in early 2023.