Testing is well underway as NASA’s LOFTID – short for Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator – prepares to catch a ride on an Atlas V rocket launch in 2022. LOFTID is a cross-cutting technology designed to help deliver heavy cargos to any planet with an atmosphere. In a few years, NASA and […]
United Launch Alliance (ULA)
THE ATLAS V TO LIFT STARLINER WITH ASTRONAUTS DEPARTS FACTORY FOR LAUNCH SITE
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will launch Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner on the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission to the International Space Station for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program emerged last Thursday from the production factory in Decatur, Alabama for transport in a giant cargo ship to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. […]
ULA AND BOEING CONDUCT MOCK COUNTDOWN FOR CST-100 MISSION
The joint team that will launch the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner on its Orbital Test Flight conducted a successful Integrated Crew Exercise (ICE) on February 12. ULA, Boeing, NASA and Air Force personnel executed a mock countdown that practiced fueling the rocket and operating on the unique launch day […]
ULA AND BOEING UNVEIL THE ATLAS V CONFIGURATION FOR THE CST-100 STARLINER
United Launch Alliance (ULA) and The Boeing Company today unveiled an updated aerodynamic configuration of the Atlas V that will launch Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner capsule for NASA. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program has partnered with Boeing to build and operate the Starliner system, including ULA’s Atlas V rocket, for missions taking astronauts to and from the […]
THE PRESSURE IS ON FOR SLS HARDWARE IN UPCOMING TEST
Engineers are getting ready to put the pressure on hardware for the world’s most powerful rocket, NASA’s Space Launch System, as part of a rigorous test series to ensure each structure can withstand the incredible stresses of launch. “Not only is this series more cost effective by testing several qualification articles together, but it also […]
SECOND STARLINER BEGINS ASSEMBLY IN FLORIDA FACTORY
Another major hardware component for Boeing’s second Starliner spacecraft recently arrived at the company’s assembly facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The upper dome – basically one half of the Starliner pressure vessel – arrived at the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility, closely following the arrival of the lower dome and docking […]