In an enormous step towards its first crewed flight, Boeing House’s Starliner spacecraft and United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket had been transported to the launchpad on the Kennedy House Middle in Florida on Thursday.
In a video (seen beneath) displaying the automobile making its strategy to the launchpad, Boeing stated the Starliner and Atlas V moved at 1 mph (1.6 km/h) alongside tracks from ULA launch’s Vertical Integration Facility to House Launch Advanced-41 in preparation for Saturday’s historic flight with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
At the moment, the #Starliner and #AtlasV stack moved at ~1 mph (1.6 km/h) alongside tracks from @ulalaunch‘s Vertical Integration Facility to House Launch Advanced-41, forward of the Crew Flight Check.
On June 1, @NASA_Astronauts Butch Wilmore and @Astro_Suni will launch to @Space_Station. pic.twitter.com/bl5x6uSkkC
— Boeing House (@BoeingSpace) Could 30, 2024
It’s really not the primary time that the spacecraft and rocket has been positioned on the launchpad. Firstly of this month, the Starliner and Atlas V had been transported to the launchpad for a launch try on Could 6.
All the things was working easily till two hours earlier than the scheduled launch, when engineers noticed a problem with a valve on the rocket’s higher stage, prompting the mission to be postponed.
As groups addressed the valve concern, a helium leak was discovered on the Starliner spacecraft that additionally needed to be resolved.
Whereas NASA has pushed again a number of goal launch dates since then, this Saturday’s launch appears extra sure than ever and — barring any last-minute hiccups — ought to see the Starliner blast off for a voyage to the Worldwide House Station (ISS) with astronauts on board for the primary time.
It’s been a protracted and rocky street for the Starliner. NASA first tried to ship it to the ISS in 2019, however a collection of software program points prevented it from reaching the proper orbit, inflicting the uncrewed check mission to fail.
It wasn’t till 2022 than the Starliner was able to fly once more. That point, the uncrewed automobile efficiently docked with the ISS, and a short time later returned to Earth in a parachute-assisted touchdown. However after that, extra points surfaced with the Starliner, and it’s taken this lengthy to get the spacecraft prepared for its first crewed flight.
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