Boeing Crewed Flight Test
Boeing Crew Flight Test (Boe-CFT) was the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner capsule. Launched on 5 June 2024, the mission flew a crew of two NASA astronauts, Barry E. Wilmore and Sunita Williams, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to the International Space Station. The mission was meant to last eight days, ending on 14 June with a landing in the American Southwest. However, the capsule's thrusters malfunctioned as Starliner approached the ISS. After more than two months of investigation, NASA decided it was too risky to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth aboard Starliner. Instead, the Boeing spacecraft returned uncrewed on 7 September 2024, and the astronauts will ride down on the SpaceX Crew-9 spacecraft in February 2025.
.jpg) Boeing Starliner Calypso launches on the Crew Flight Test atop an Atlas V rocket. | |
| Names | Boe-CFT |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Flight test |
| Operator | Boeing Defense, Space, & Security |
| COSPAR ID | 2024-109A |
| SATCAT no. | 59968 |
| Website | nasa |
| Mission duration | Planned: 8 days Actual: 93 days, 13 hours and 9 minutes |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Boeing Starliner Calypso |
| Spacecraft type | Boeing Starliner |
| Manufacturer | Boeing Defense, Space, & Security |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 2 |
| Launching | Barry E. Wilmore Sunita Williams |
| Landing | None |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 5 June 2024, 14:52:15 UTC (10:52:15 am EDT) |
| Rocket | Atlas V N22 (AV-085) |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, SLC-41 |
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 7 September 2024, 04:01:35 UTC (6 September, 10:01:35 MDT) |
| Landing site | White Sands Space Harbor |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee | 315 km (196 mi) |
| Apogee | 324 km (201 mi) |
| Inclination | 51.66° |
| Docking with International Space Station | |
| Docking port | Harmony forward |
| Docking date | 6 June 2024, 17:34 UTC |
| Undocking date | 6 September 2024, 22:04 UTC |
| Time docked | 92 days, 4 hours, 30 minutes |
.jpg) Williams (left) and Wilmore (right) Commercial Crew Development Boeing Starliner flights | |
Originally scheduled for launch in 2017, Boe-CFT experienced numerous delays. The spacecraft's two preceding uncrewed orbital flight tests, Boe‐OFT and Boe‐OFT‐2, were conducted in 2019 and 2022, respectively.
Starliner was placed atop the Atlas V launch vehicle on April 16, 2024, but the mission's launch was repeatedly postponed by technical problems. An oxygen valve problem on United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Atlas V rocket scrubbed the first launch attempt on 7 May. A second launch attempt on 1 June was scrubbed when a ground computer failed. Subsequent delays were caused by helium leaks in the Starliner's service module; helium leaks would continue to be a problem throughout the mission. The third launch attempt on 5 June at 14:52:15 UTC (10:52:15 am EDT local time at the launch site) was successful.