Updates Boeing's CST-100 Starliner

[Nicholas Kang]

New Spacesuit Unveiled for Starliner Astronauts

Official NASA Press Statement: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-spacesuit-unveiled-for-starliner-astronauts

Astronauts heading into orbit aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will wear lighter and more comfortable spacesuits than earlier suits astronauts wore. The suit capitalizes on historical designs, meets NASA requirements for safety and functionality, and introduces cutting-edge innovations. Boeing unveiled its spacesuit design Wednesday as the company continues to move toward flight tests of its Starliner spacecraft and launch systems that will fly astronauts to the International Space Station.

A few of the advances in the design:

• Lighter and more flexible through use of advanced materials and new joint patterns
  
• Helmet and visor incorporated into the suit instead of detachable
  
• Touchscreen-sensitive gloves
  
• Vents that allow astronauts to be cooler, but can still pressurize the suit immediately

The full suit, which includes an integrated shoe, weighs about 20 pounds with all its accessories – about 10 pounds lighter than the launch-and-entry suits worn by space shuttle astronauts.

The new Starliner suit's material lets water vapor pass out of the suit, away from the astronaut, but keeps air inside. That makes the suit cooler without sacrificing safety. Materials in the elbows and knees give astronauts more movement, too, while strategically located zippers allow them to adapt the suit's shape when standing or seated.

Astronaut Eric Boe evaluates Boeing Starliner spacesuit in mockup of spacecraft cockpit. Credits: Boeing

A suit technician fits the communications carrier on an astronaut stand-in before pressurizing the spacesuit inside Crew Quarters at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credits: NASA/Cory Huston

Astronaut Sunni Williams puts on the communications carrier of Boeing's new Starliner spacesuit. Credits: Boeing

 

[Astro SG Wise]

I've always loved the orange ACES suits, and my mind has been sort of opposed to new, sci-fi looking spacesuits, like the one in the SpaceX Dragon commercial, but these things look real and safe. Awesome. Reminds me of ACES and Sokol hybrid?

 

[Nicholas Kang]

Atlas V DCR completed!

ULA Completes Key Milestone for Launch of Boeing’s Starliner and Return of U.S.-based Human Spaceflight

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., Jan. 4, 2018 – United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully completed an Atlas V Launch Segment Design Certification Review (DCR) recently in preparation for the launch of astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil in The Boeing Company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. ULA’s Atlas V DCR supported the Boeing International Space Station (ISS) DCR that was held with NASA at Kennedy Space Center in early December.

“Design Certification Review is a significant milestone that completes the design phase of the program, paving the way to operations,” said Barb Egan, ULA Commercial Crew program manager. “Hardware and software final qualification tests are underway, as well as a major integrated test series, including structural loads. Future tests will involve launch vehicle hardware, such as jettison tests, acoustic tests, and, finally, a pad abort test in White Sands, New Mexico.”

Launch vehicle production is currently on track for an uncrewed August 2018 Orbital Flight Test (OFT). The OFT booster for the uncrewed flight is in final assembly at the factory in Decatur, Ala., and the OFT Centaur upper stage has completed pressure testing. Other hardware such as the launch vehicle adapter and aeroskirt production are on schedule to support test articles and flight.

The Atlas V booster that will launch the uncrewed Orbital Flight test with Boeing’s Starliner in August 2018 is now in final assembly, and the Centaur has completed pressure testing. Credits: ULA Facebook Page

“ULA is progressing into the operational phase to launch the OFT and Crew Flight Test in 2018, and we are pleased with the progress we’re making toward a successful launch of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner on the Atlas V,” said Gary Wentz, ULA Human and Commercial Systems vice president. “We cannot overstate the importance of all the steps that go into this process as there is more than just a mission or hardware at stake, but the lives of our brave astronauts.”

Enjoy your 360 Degree View!

 

[barrygolden]

is any one working on this for orbiter ?

 

[Andy44]

So they're really serious about a man-rated Atlas V after all, huh.

I was under the impression that the Atlas program's days were numbered due to reliance on Russian engines prompting the development of Vulcan as a successor.

If so, it would be interesting; the Atlas program is about 6 decades old at this point and featured a man-rated launcher in the early days as well as the latest.

 

[IronRain]

Boeing proposes extending test flight of commercial crew capsule

NASA has agreed to consider a Boeing proposal to extend the first piloted test flight of its commercial CST-100 Starliner crew capsule from two weeks to up to six months with an extra crew member for the International Space Station, hedging against potential delays that could jeopardize U.S. crew access to the orbiting outpost, officials said last week.

The U.S. space agency said Thursday it recently updated its contract with Boeing to enable the first test flight of the company’s CST-100 Starliner crew ferry ship to remain at the space station for up to six months. The original plan called for a two-week test flight to the space station and back to Earth.

In addition, the updated contract would allow NASA and Boeing to fly a third crew member on the CST-100 spacecraft’s Crew Flight Test. Officials previously planned for the Crew Flight Test to carry a Boeing test pilot and a NASA astronaut.

{...}

Source:
Spaceflight now: https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/...nding-test-flight-of-commercial-crew-capsule/

 

[mahdavi3d]

 

[IronRain]

NASA announces test flight crew change for Boeing’s Starliner

Just five months after revealing the NASA astronauts who will fly the crewed test flights for both SpaceX’s Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner missions, NASA announced today that a medical issue will prevent one of those astronauts from flying the Starliner crewed test flight.


The announcement came via the agency’s website, noting that Eric Boe, a two-time Space Shuttle astronaut, was no longer assigned to the CST-100 Starliner test mission.

 

[Nicholas Kang]

Delay again! This time till August!

Boeing delays Starliner test flights

WASHINGTON — Boeing confirmed April 2 it will delay the uncrewed test flight of its commercial crew vehicle, citing a tight schedule and conflicts with another launch.
In a statement to SpaceNews, Boeing said the first flight of its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, called the Orbital Flight Test, is now scheduled for August on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. That launch had been scheduled for this spring.

In the statement, Boeing said it had entered the “final phases of production” of the Starliner that will fly that uncrewed test flight. “Our Starliner team continues to press toward a launch readiness date later this spring,” the company said, which also included the completion of a final set of testing milestones.

Boeing's Starliner prepares for acoustic testing at Boeing's spacecraft test facilities in El Segundo, California.
This vehicle, known as Spacecraft 2, will fly Starliner's Crew Flight Test after it returns to Florida from environmental testing. Credits: Boeing
​

Boeing, though, said the issue was a pad conflict with the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) 5 military communications satellite, scheduled to launch in late June on another Atlas 5 from the same pad. Boeing said they had only a two-day launch window in May available for the Starliner launch before they would have to stand down for the AEHF-5 launch.

“In order to avoid unnecessary schedule pressure, not interfere with a critical national security payload, and allow appropriate schedule margin to ensure the Boeing, United Launch Alliance and NASA teams are able to perform a successful first launch of Starliner, we made the most responsible decision available to us and will be ready for the next launch pad availability in August,” the company said.

That delay will, in turn, push back the second test flight of the vehicle, which had been scheduled for no earlier than August. Boeing said that, even with the delay in the uncrewed test, it expects to carry out that crewed test flight, which will carry two NASA astronauts and Boeing test pilot Chris Ferguson, “later this year.” That’s likely to be no earlier than November, according to industry sources.

Source: NASA, Spacenews.com

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/JimBridenstine/status/1189930291164569605/

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Looks like there is a delay....

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New T0: 1415 UTC

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Liftoff!!!... or abort!? :lol:

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Engine part done, on chutes now

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Touchdown.... next to a cloud of toxic gas....

 

[Urwumpe]

That reddish cloud near the landing site doesn't look exactly healthy...

 

[GLS]

The toxic cloud from the SM should probably not be a big issue, as in an abort the SM should sink in the water while the CM is landing.

 

[C3PO]

Was a two-main-shute landing planned, or did the third one fail to deploy?

 

[Urwumpe]

The toxic cloud from the SM should probably not be a big issue, as in an abort the SM should sink in the water while the CM is landing.

You know, even at low velocities, incompressible water behaves on impact just like solid concrete. Having toxic, acidic substances mixing with salt water sounds like fun for field science chemists.

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Was a two-main-shute landing planned, or did the third one fail to deploy?

No, the goal was three. But hey, great example of redundancy working in a test flight... :rofl::facepalm:

 

[GLS]

The animation had 3 chutes, so either that was wrong, or the attachment of one of them failed as it didn't appear to be any loose cables at the "bucket handle".

 

[Urwumpe]

The animation had 3 chutes, so either that was wrong, or the attachment of one of them failed as it didn't appear to be any loose cables at the "bucket handle".

I think they had been talking about the missing parachute in the post flight whateveryoumightcallthis.

Would need to watch it again to be sure, but it seems like the missing third parachute was not planned. Also it landed at quite an angle, which is also unusual for airbag landings, where you want to have the loads as even as possible on all airbags to make sure that not one of them collapses too soon.

 

[GLS]

Also it landed at quite an angle, which is also unusual for airbag landings, where you want to have the loads as even as possible on all airbags to make sure that not one of them collapses too soon.

I noticed that too: while in flight it looked like the bucket handle didn't (fully) deploy, but after landing it looked fully up... :uhh:

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Was a two-main-shute landing planned, or did the third one fail to deploy?

From the video it looks like the drogues for all three deployed, but the riser of one of them failed/separated before it could deploy the third main canopy.



I used to pack ejection seat parachutes in the air force, and there aren't many happy reasons for that to occur. Could be a part or material failure, which either means something was under-designed or a part did not meet QC standards, or a failure in rigging.


Also worrisome is the big red cloud of hypergolics that was released when the service stage impacted. Surviving the abort just to have the lining of your lungs oxidized and drowning in your own bodily fluids wouldn't be much of a win.


All I have to say is :facepalm:. If I were NASA I wouldn't be happy with this.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

I'm not so worried about the cloud of unburnt propellants, as I doubt that the crew's immediate response to a pad abort would be to open the hatch and their helmets right after splashdown. Furthermore, I doubt that the capsule immediately begins to take in air from outside after landing, either. So you just sit tight, run on the capsule's internal ECLSS until rescue personnel arrive and deem the area safe.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I'm not so worried about the cloud of unburnt propellants, as I doubt that the crew's immediate response to a pad abort would be to open the hatch and their helmets right after splashdown. Furthermore, I doubt that the capsule immediately begins to take in air from outside after landing, either. So you just sit tight, run on the capsule's internal ECLSS until rescue personnel arrive and deem the area safe.

True, but it could certainly complicate recovery operations and it puts the recovery forces at risk. They would need to be hazmat protected and do air quality sampling on the way to recover the capsule. What if someone was injured in the capsule and time was of the essence?


All this would probably would occur after a booster failure and explosion. Adding clouds of hazardous materials to contend with in addition to a potentially rather chaotic situation isn't a good thing. They should try to mitigate it IMO.