Boeing’s Starliner Launch Will Bring New Cargo and Science to the Space Station

The Orbital Flight Test 2 mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to launch at 6:54 pm. On Thursday, May 19th, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846 888-666-1846

This second uncrewed test mission of the company's Starliner capsule serves as a critical step in NASA's certification of the spaceship for human spaceflight, following the incomplete original OFT mission in December and valve problems that delayed OFT-2.

The OFT-2 will carry at least 500 pounds of cargo to the orbital laboratory, which will include food and supplies for the current crew. Boeing contributed the remaining payloads, which included flags and pins from historically Black colleges and universities.

Boeing's president and CEO said in a statement last year that closing representation gaps in the company and industry is a priority.

Rosie the Rocketeer is a flight test dummy that will be taking its second ride aboard Starliner. Rosie gave engineers data about G-force exertion on the body during the first OFT. The same sensors used for Rosie on OFT-1 will be used to measure the strain on the vehicle. Mission team members have said that Rosie's main function will be to provide ballast.

Every few months, a rotation of Russian Progress vessels and two private American vehicles are used to launch robotic cargo to the space station. The freighters and the Dragon bring large cargo loads to the International Space Station. When the time at the International Space Station is over, Progress and Cygnus burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

NASA's deputy chief scientist for the International Space Station Program pointed out the advantages of NASA's commercial crew program at a briefing in the runup to the first planned OFT-2 launch attempt last year.

We can do more science with more crew on the space station and more cargo back and forth from there.

Over 3000 experiments have been completed on the orbital lab, which has hosted rotating astronauts since 2000. A portion of the cargo regularly transported to, and sometimes back from, the International Space Station is made up of these experiments.

It appears that Starliner will not be transporting much meaningful science gear for the upcoming mission. Food and crew preference items for the current expedition crew members on the station are included in OFT-2.

The science for OFT-2 is mostly about the spaceship and Rosie the Rocketeer. Before astronauts are strapped on for a crewed flight, testing Starliner is important.

The OFT-2 aims to demonstrate that Starliner can dock with the space station, a task it failed to accomplish during the original OFT. The vehicle will use an instrument called the Vision-based Electro-optical Sensor Tracking Assembly.

Amy Comeau, project engineer for the Boeing Starliner chief engineer's office, highlighted the importance of VESTA in speaking on NASA. She said that the camera suite was designed to differentiate the visual features of the space station in the same way a human would.

The system uses visual cues on the space station, such as the solar panels, stickers, modules, etc., and it also uses star tracker information so that it can interpret, in real time, the precise location of Starliner. This information is fed into the flight computers that drive the spaceship into the docking port.

In a May 11 press conference, NASA's Deputy Chief Flight Director Emily Nelson remarked that VESTA is one of the most important, and really kind of the cool, sensors they have.

Nelson said that once flight operators confirm that VESTA is seeing the space station correctly and identifying where it ought to go, Starliner will begin a number of demonstration maneuvers. To demonstrate that we have that retreat capability, it will automatically retreat some. Nelson said that they would press into the final rendezvous and docking.

NASA says that Starliner will stay on the International Space Station for five to eight days before returning to Earth. It will carry with it nearly 600 pounds of cargo, including three of the station's dozen or so NORS tanks.

The space station has atmospheric gases in its tanks. The crew of the private Ax-1 mission went back to Earth in a capsule with a tank that was returned on a cargo mission. According to the May 11 briefing, OFT-2 will be the first mission to return three NORS tanks at one time.

Montalbano summed up Starliner's cargo during an OFT-2 overview press conference on May 3, saying that the majority of the cargo going up is going to be food. We will return them to the ground and then fly them again. The big highlights. We are also flying up some small vehicle hardware and some spacewalk supply hardware.

Most of Boeing's cargo will be returning to Earth with Starliner at the end of OFT-2. There are flags and pins representing the legacy of HBCUs on OFT-2 as well as Rosie the Riveter coins and seeds from five different species of trees.

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