Matthew Nelson
Boeing and NASA have scheduled the second uncrewed test flight of the company's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station for March 29 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket.
The company said Wednesday it expects the Starliner to dock with the orbital laboratory and land on a designated western U.S. location one week later as part of system readiness assessments during the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission.
Boeing completed the installation of the spacecraft's landing airbags, base heat shield, backshells and parachutes and currently performs final assembly work inside a commercial crew and cargo processing facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Technicians have powered up the CST-100 reusable crew module and are close to wrapping up the final checkout phase for power, propulsion and avionics systems.
Personnel at Boeing’s avionics and software integration laboratory in Houston are conducting flight software qualification activities, the company added.
