CST-100

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Emre Kelly‏Подлинная учетная запись @EmreKelly 32 мин. назад

Updated commercial crew slide from KSC Director Cabana's presentation today; appears to be as expected. Uncrewed Boeing and SpaceX flights in August, crewed in November and December, respectively. More details in photo.

[Salo]

 Eric Berger‏Подлинная учетная запись @SciGuySpace
Commercial crew milestones as of the end of 2017.
 

[tnt22]

Jeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust 4 ч. назад

Update slide on commercial crew from NASA's Kathy Lueders. No change in dates yet for either company, but dates "constantly under review."

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Jeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust 3 ч. назад

Boeing CST-100 Starliner development update.

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Eric Berger‏Подлинная учетная запись @SciGuySpace 7 ч. назад

Update (as of January) on commercial crew tasks completed, and remaining.

[Salo]

 Eric Berger‏Подлинная учетная запись @SciGuySpace
Update on Boeing's first Starliner flight vehicle (which won't carry crew). Rocket coming along too.
 

[Salo]

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/ccp_presentation_for_nac_public_session.pdf

[tnt22]

Ed Van Cise‏Подлинная учетная запись @Carbon_Flight 46 мин. назад

Boeing Mission Operations (MO) continues to prepare to fly the first #Starliner test flight later this year for @BoeingDefense. As part of our prep, we've created our MO patch for that Orbital Flight Test (OFT) mission.

Добавка

Ed Van Cise‏Подлинная учетная запись @Carbon_Flight 2 ч. назад

That patch artwork was created by @KSCartist and Jorge Cartes, experts in numerous Shuttle and Station crew patch designs.

21 мин. назад

Since folks have asked - the 4 stars are: KSC (launch/Starliner processing), Houston (Mission Ops, Boeing Engineering), White Sands area (landing sites), Denver (home of @ulalaunch)

[tnt22]

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-boeing-may-evolve-flight-test-strategy

April 6, 2018

NASA, Boeing May Evolve Flight Test Strategy


An artist image of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft docking to the International Space Station. Image credit: Boeing

NASA has updated its Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract with Boeing, which provides flexibility in its commercial flight tests. Boeing, one of the agency's two commercial crew partners, approached NASA last year and proposed adding a third crew member on its Crew Flight Test (CFT) to the International Space Station.

The change includes the ability to extend Boeing's CFT from roughly two weeks to up to six months as well as the training and mission support for a third crew member. Cargo capabilities for the uncrewed and crewed flight tests were also identified.

Exact details of how to best take advantage of the contract modification are under evaluation, but the changes could allow for additional microgravity research, maintenance, and other activities while Starliner is docked to station. Adding a third crew member on Boeing's flight test could offer NASA an additional opportunity to ensure continued U.S. access to the orbital laboratory.

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"This contract modification provides NASA with additional schedule margin if needed," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator, Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We appreciate Boeing's willingness to evolve its flight to ensure we have continued access to space for our astronauts. Commercial space transportation to low-Earth orbit from U.S. soil is critical for the agency and the nation."

The current commercial crew flight schedules provide about six months of margin to begin regular, post-certification crew rotation missions to the International Space Station before NASA's contracted flights on Soyuz flights end in fall 2019.

"Turning a test flight into more of an operational mission needs careful review by the technical community," said Gerstenmaier. "For example, the spacecraft capability to support the additional time still needs to be reviewed. Modifying the contract now allows NASA and Boeing an opportunity to tailor the duration to balance the mission needs with vehicle and crew capabilities."

This would not be the first time NASA has expanded the scope of test flights. NASA had SpaceX carry cargo on its commercial cargo demonstration flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) initiative in 2012, which was not part of the original agreement. As part of its normal operations planning, NASA has assessed multiple scenarios to ensure continued U.S. access to the space station. The agency is working closely with its commercial partners and is preparing for potential schedule adjustments normally experienced during spacecraft development.

"Our partners have made significant progress on the development of their spacecraft, launch vehicle, and ground systems," said Kathy Lueders, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "Their rigorous testing and analysis are verifying each system performs and reacts as planned as they prepare to safely carry our astronauts to and from the station."

Boeing and SpaceX plan to fly test missions without crew to the space station this year prior to test flights with a crew onboard. After each company's test flights, NASA will evaluate the in-flight performance in order to certify the systems and begin regular post-certification crew rotation missions.

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Last Updated: April 6, 2018
Editor: Linda Herridge

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Christopher Ferguson‏Подлинная учетная запись @Astro_Ferg 9 ч. назад

And the two become one....Launch Pad Abort Test is next

[tnt22]

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/09/boeing-proposes-extending-test-flight-of-commercial-crew-capsule/

Boeing proposes extending test flight of commercial crew capsule
April 9, 2018 | Stephen Clark


Artist's illustration of a CST-100 Starliner spacecraft docked at the International Space Station. Credit: Boeing

NASA has agreed to consider a Boeing proposal to extend the first piloted test flight of its commercial CST-100 Starliner crew capsule fr om 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.

Спойлер

"Exact details of how to best take advantage of the contract modification are under evaluation, but the changes could allow for additional microgravity research, maintenance, and other activities while Starliner is docked to station," NASA said in a statement. "Adding a third crew member on Boeing's flight test could offer NASA an additional opportunity to ensure continued U.S. access to the orbital laboratory."

Boeing could also carry cargo to the space station abroad the CST-100 Starliner test flights under the terms of the updated contract.

If exercised, the options for a longer-duration Crew Flight Test with an extra crew member could blunt the impact of delays in the readiness of Boeing and SpaceX capsules to begin regular crew rotation flights to and from the space station.

The U.S.-built commercial crew craft will end NASA's reliance on Russian Soyuz spaceships to deliver astronauts to the space station and return them to Earth. NASA has secured Soyuz seats for U.S. astronauts and crew members from other station partners through 2019, but officials do not plan further Soyuz seat purchases.

That puts the onus on Boeing and SpaceX to deliver.

"This contract modification provides NASA with additional schedule margin if needed," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator of NASA's human exploration and operations mission directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We appreciate Boeing's willingness to evolve its flight to ensure we have continued access to space for our astronauts. Commercial space transportation to low-Earth orbit from U.S. soil is critical for the agency and the nation."

NASA said it will consider a similar contract update with SpaceX, should the company propose one.

The flight sequence currently planned by NASA, Boeing and SpaceX includes unpiloted test flights of the CST-100 Starliner and Crew Dragon spacecraft to dock with the space station, followed by demonstration flights with two-person crews. Each company plans one unpiloted test flight and one demo mission with an on-board crew.

The latest schedule released by NASA indicates Boeing and SpaceX plan to launch their initial crew capsule test flights into orbit as soon as August — without a crew. Astronauts would strap into the CST-100 Starliner for its Crew Flight Test in November, followed by the first Crew Dragon test flight with humans on-board in December.

But those mission schedules are optimistic, and they assume Boeing and SpaceX quicken their development pace in the coming months. In addition to the test flights to the space station, Boeing is finishing up structural testing and plans a pad abort test to verify the CST-100's escape rockets can safely get a crew away from an exploding rocket on the launch pad. SpaceX's upcoming work includes a vacuum test of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, final qualification of its parachutes and an in-flight abort test, designed to check the capsule's ability to get away from a launch failure after liftoff.

"I would say the schedule the contractors have laid out is aggressive," said Steve Stich, deputy manager of NASA's commercial crew program, in a briefing with reporters April 2. "What we have seen from both Boeing and SpaceX is when we get to a point wh ere maybe the dates are no longer supportable with what testing they have to do, then those dates get adjusted. The reason those dates get adjusted is the fact that there's work to complete to ensure those spacecraft are safe."

After the successful completion of the crew demonstration flights, Boeing and SpaceX will be formally certified by NASA to begin regular crew rotation missions, carrying four astronauts at a time to and from the space station. The spacecraft will stay docked to the complex for up to seven months, serving as a lifeboat for the crew to escape in case of an emergency.

NASA has a contract with Boeing worth up to $4.2 billion to complete development of the CST-100 crew capsule, conduct the two test flights to the space station, and fly up to six subsequent crew rotations. NASA's contract with SpaceX, covering Crew Dragon development, test flights and up to six crew rotations, is valued at up to $2.6 billion.

Officials did not disclose how the updates to the Boeing contract could change the deal's monetary value.

NASA says the cost-per-seat on the CST-100 and Crew Dragon capsules will average out at about $58 million. The Russian government charged NASA as much as $81 million per round-trip Soyuz ticket.

Boeing's crew capsule will lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 launch pad, while SpaceX will launch its piloted missions on the company's own Falcon 9 booster from pad 39A, the former Apollo and space shuttle launch site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

The CST-100 will return to Earth under parachutes for an airbag-cushioned landing at a site in New Mexico, Utah, California, or Arizona. The Crew Dragon will splash down in the Atlantic Ocean off of Florida's coast.

"Turning a test flight into more of an operational mission needs careful review by the technical community," Gerstenmaier said in a statement. "For example, the spacecraft capability to support the additional time still needs to be reviewed. Modifying the contract now allows NASA and Boeing an opportunity to tailor the duration to balance the mission needs with vehicle and crew capabilities."

NASA said the current schedules, which project the Boeing and SpaceX crew ferry craft will be available for operational crew rotations in the spring of 2019, have about six months of margin before NASA's contract for Soyuz seats expires in the fall of 2019.

But a review by the Government Accountability Office earlier this year said the certification schedules for both commercial crew vehicles was likely to fall well behind NASA's current timeline.

Boeing and SpaceX aimed to fly their first human-rated spacecraft to the International Space Station in late 2016 and early 2017, with a goal of having both vehicles ready for operational missions by the end of 2017. But budget shortfalls from Congress, combined with technical hurdles encountered by both companies, delayed the test flights.

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"In fact, final certification dates have slipped to the first quarter of calendar year 2019 and we found that the program's own analysis indicates that certification is likely to slip into December 2019 for SpaceX and February 2020 for Boeing," said Cristina Chaplain, a senior manager at the Government Accountability Office, during a congressional hearing in January.

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Boeing Defense‏Подлинная учетная запись @BoeingDefense 15 ч. назад

Things are really coming together for the #BoeingSpace team! Coming up, we'll test fire this vehicle's @AerojetRdyne engines with partner @ULALaunch to prove #Starliner can swiftly carry astronauts to safety in the unlikely event of a launch vehicle emergency.

Video 0:58

[tnt22]

http://spacenews.com/nasa-may-extend-space-station-missions-to-address-potential-commercial-crew-delays/

NASA may extend space station missions to address potential commercial crew delays
by Jeff Foust — April 13, 2018


NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot said April 12 that extending durations of crews on the International Space Station could help deal with any future delays in the development of commercial crew vehicles. Credit: NASA

WASHINGTON — NASA is in discussions with its Russian counterparts about extending some upcoming space station missions as a way to buy more time for development of commercial crew vehicles.

During an April 12 hearing by the commerce, justice and science subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee on the agency's fiscal year 2019 budget proposal, NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot said longer "increments" of crews on the ISS could be one way to provide more schedule margin in the event of additional delays by Boeing and SpaceX in the development of their crewed spacecraft.

"Right now we don't show a gap" in U.S. access to the International Space Station, Lightfoot said in response to a question posed by subcommittee chairman Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas). "But we're looking at options at what can we do to not have a gap."

"We're working with our partners, our Russian partners, on if we can have longer increments for crew members that go up," he said.

Спойлер

He revisited that later in the hearing. "One thing we have is a great relationship with our Russians partners, and we're looking at other alternatives about potentially extending mission duration for the current missions that are there so that we don't gap the ability to get there," he said.

NASA's current agreement with flying astronauts on Soyuz vehicles expires next year, after the agency purchased three seats on Soyuz flights launching in the spring of 2019 and returning in the fall. It's not clear what would be involved in extending ISS mission durations, such as any technical issues regarding how long a Soyuz spacecraft can remain docked to the ISS.

NASA announced April 5 it had updated its existing commercial crew contract with Boeing to study modifications to the crewed test flight for the company's CST-100 Starliner. Those modifications would include adding a third astronaut and extending the spacecraft's stay at the ISS from two weeks to as long as six months. Those changes, Lightfoot noted at the hearing, were another way to mitigate the effects of additional development delays.

At the hearing, Lightfoot said there was still schedule margin for the development of Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon to be ready by the fall of 2019. Schedules last updated in January call for both companies to make uncrewed test flights of their vehicles in August. Boeing would then make a crewed test flight in November, followed by SpaceX in December.

Lightfoot, though, hinted that those schedules would be delayed again. "We still expect to see the first test flights at the end of this year," he said, later elaborating that these were the uncrewed test flights for both companies.

Culberson asked when the crewed test flights would take place, and Lightfoot said he would take that for the record. "I'm focused on the uncrewed one right now," he said.
...

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[tnt22]

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/16/nasa-could-extend-space-station-expeditions-as-hedge-against-commercial-crew-delays/

NASA could extend space station stays as hedge against commercial crew delays
April 16, 2018 | Stephen Clark


File photo of acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

NASA is working with the Russian space agency to potentially extend crew stays on the International Space Station, the agency's acting administrator said last week, as a cushion against expected delays in the development of commercial crew capsules by Boeing and SpaceX.

Robert Lightfoot, who has led the U.S. space agency on an interim basis since January 2017, told lawmakers Thursday that NASA is looking for ways to ensure U.S. astronauts can fly to the space station in case commercial spaceships designed by Boeing and SpaceX are not operational by the time a transportation contract with Russia expires in late 2019.

Спойлер

One option already under study is potentially extending the first piloted test flights of the commercial crew ships fr om two days up to six months. NASA recently updated its commercial crew contract with Boeing, giving officials the option to lengthen the first piloted test flight of the company's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft from two weeks to six months, along with the possible addition of a third crew member.

The space agency said it would consider a similar arrangement with SpaceX if the company proposes it.

Lightfoot, who is retiring at the end of April, told a House appropriations subcommittee Thursday that NASA does not expect a gap in crew access to the space station between the end of Soyuz missions under contract with U.S. astronauts and the start of regular space station crew rotation flights by Boeing and SpaceX.

But the Government Accountability Office in January reported that the schedules are likely to fall behind NASA's current projection, which anticipates Boeing and SpaceX's vehicles completing their uncrewed and crewed demonstration missions by the spring of 2019.

The GAO's report said certification of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule for operational crew rotation missions is likely to slip until December 2019, with Boeing's final certification likely to occur in February 2020.

Lightfoot said NASA is taking further steps to minimize the impact of further commercial crew delays, including the possibility of lengthening the time astronauts live and work on the space station.

"We're working with all our partners and working all the options, but right now we know we still show margin," Lightfoot said.

"One thing we have is a great relationship with our Russian partners, and we're looking at other alternatives about potentially extending the mission durations for the current missions that are there," he said.


File photo of NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold boarding a Soyuz spacecraft during testing at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

Space station crews typically spend around six months in orbit, but some crew members have stayed longer. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko spent 340 days on the space station in 2015 and 2016. Astronaut Peggy Whitson returned from an extended 288-day mission in September.

Scientists are eager for more astronauts to stay on the space station for longer missions. The long-duration missions give researchers important data about how extended exposure to microgravity and radiation affects the human body.

Joel Montalbano, NASA's deputy space station program manager, said April 1 that scientists have asked station officials to find 10 to 12 slots for year-long crew members. There are no firm plans to send a crew to the station for a year, but NASA continues to look for an opportunity, Montalbano said.

"We're looking at ways to ... extend stays that we have currently on the station with the seats that we do have left through the Soyuz program," Lightfoot said Thursday.

NASA is not planning to buy more Soyuz seats from Russia, but officials have previously said that once the commercial crew spacecraft are operational, the station partners plan to accommodate at least one U.S. astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut on each launch. The in-kind arrangement has been negotiated without the exchange of funds between NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.

Lightfoot said Boeing and SpaceX are "making great progress" on their commercial crew capsules. But like NASA's Space Launch System and Orion programs — part of the agency's deep space exploration plans — the commercial crew vehicles are running into difficulties as engineers build the first flight-ready models of each spacecraft.

The most recent public schedule released by NASA indicate the first test flights by the Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner could occur in August, but industry and government officials expect that schedule to slip. Plans to conduct the first Crew Dragon test flight with a two-person crew in November, and fly two test pilots on a CST-100 Starliner spaceship in December, are also widely considered "aggressive" by space program officials.

Lightfoot said Thursday that NASA still expects both companies to complete their unpiloted demonstration flights to Earth orbit by the end of the year. He declined to state a schedule for the crewed test flights.

"We still expect to see the first test flights at the end of this year, from both providers," he said. "These would be the uncrewed flights. We're working through that now."

The unpiloted and crewed test missions will dock with the International Space Station.

The Crew Dragon capsule will blast off on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, then parachute into the Atlantic Ocean at the end of its mission. Boeing's CST-100 Starliner will lift off on the Atlas 5 rocket, built and operated by Boeing subsidiary United Launch Alliance, then return to a parachute-assisted and airbag-cushioned touchdown at one of five landing zones in the Western United States, likely in New Mexico.

The U.S.-built ships will normally carry a crew of four to the space station, wh ere the capsules will remain docked for up to 210 days before returning the astronauts to Earth. Russian Soyuz spacecraft carry three-person crews.

"Regardless of what is going on in the rest of the world, our space cooperation with the Russians has been very good," Lightfoot said. "It's a good team. We're ready to get our flights from U.S. soil though. We're ready to get back to that."

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[zandr]

http://www.interfax.ru/world/609267

Испытательный полет к МКС корабля Boeing Starliner перенесен на три месяца
Москва. 19 апреля. INTERFAX.RU - Новый американский пилотируемый корабль Boeing Starliner отправится без экипажа в испытательный полет к Международной космической станции (МКС) на три месяца позже запланированного. Об этом сообщил в четверг "Интерфаксу" источник в ракетно-космической отрасли.
"Испытательный беспилотный полет пилотируемого корабля Starliner перенесен с августа на 27 ноября", - сказал собеседник агентства.
В то же время аналогичный испытательный беспилотный полет пилотируемого корабля Dragon по-прежнему планируется в августе.
"Интерфакс" не располагает официальным подтверждением данной информации от NASA.
Ранее ряд СМИ сообщили, что NASA воспользовалось опционом на полет трех американских астронавтов в российских кораблях "Союз" к Международной космической станции в 2019 году.
Также сообщалось, что NASA приобрело у компании Boeing два места в кораблях "Союз" в 2017 и 2018 годах.
Высказывались предположения, что потребность в дополнительных местах на российских кораблях могла понадобиться американской стороне на случай, если разрабатываемые корабли Boeing CST-100 Starliner не будут готовы осуществлять доставку экипажей на МКС к этому времени.

[Чебурашка]

На американских форумах про перенос ничего нету. 
Там бы вой в стиле "прросрали все полимеры" в первую очередь  поднялся бы.

[triage]

 
Take a 360 Tour inside Boeing's Starliner Factory

Boeing

Published on Apr 19, 2018

One, two, three Boeing CST-100 Starliners are coming together inside this historic spacecraft factory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The goal of the commercially developed and operating spacecraft is to return crew launch capabilities to NASA and the United States.

[axxenm]

История "торможения" Boeing Starliner: 
В 2010 году предполагалось, что CST-100 может быть введён в эксплуатацию в 2014 году

В августе 2011 года компания Boeing сообщила, что CST-100 впервые отправится в космос в 2015 году — как в беспилотном, так и в пилотируемом варианте. Всего на 2015 год было запланировано три полёта CST-100 (первый беспилотный; второй —— испытание систему спасения экипажа; третий — пилотируемая стыковка с МКС).

В мае 2014 года было заявлено о первом беспилотном испытательном запуске CST-100 в январе 2017 года. На середину 2017 года был запланирован первый орбитальный полет пилотируемого корабля с двумя астронавтами.

В августе 2016 года началась сборка корабля.

В конце 2016 года дату первого запуска CST-100 вновь отложили, на декабрь 2018 года.
....
И этот срок не выполнят..не полетит позорна бочка от боинга в 2018 году.

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Предлагаю ставку на событие: 
"попытка запуска  CST-100 ( ишак научится толковать коран) 
 в период с 30 апреля 2018 года до 11 января 2019 года" 
я - такого не будет .. 2 к 1. 
сумма 100р . 
так как я великодушен и щедр - то дал запас в 11 суток на выполнение в срок, 

Тем кто верит в эти пошлые наглые насовские обещалки предлагаю заработать на вере в пилотируюмую программу NASA.. 
2 к 1 это хороший гандикап 

[Евгений Кравченко]

так как я великодушен и щедр - то дал запас в 11 суток на выполнение в срок,
 
Тем кто верит в эти пошлые наглые насовские обещалки предлагаю заработать на вере в пилотируюмую программу NASA..

Как же ты достал своими ставками...

[Василий Ратников]

axxenm пишет:
И этот срок не выполнят..не полетит позорна бочка от боинга в 2018 году.

может и не полетит в 2018 и даже 2019 и даже есть вариант что никогда или в полете убьет экипаж
всякое бывает.

а почему позорна бочка ?
формально по ТТХ нормальный КК, если в 2019 начнет летать, то очень даже для боинга все хорошо получилось.