Video Transcript
Exciting developments from NASA and Boeing mean a big journey will soon take place for two astronauts when a new commercial crew capsule heads to the International Space Station. According to reports, on May 1st, Boeing’s new CST-100 Starliner spacecraft will carry Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore on a flight test mission to the ISS.
Launching from Cape Canaveral atop a ULA Atlas 5 rocket, Williams and Wilmore will be tasked with some manual maneuvers on the way out and back, not typical for the craft due to its autonomous capabilities, but necessary for a test.
Both astronauts have military test pilot experience and should feel at home operating the nearly 50 “reaction-control and orbital maneuvering jets” and stick control.
Described as a “pilot’s aircraft,” the Starliner will dock on May 2nd and feature the capabilities of docking at multiple ports and even being relocated between them.
Steve Stich, the manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, explained some of the capabilities in more detail. Specifically, he suggested that the pilots would help maneuver solar arrays so they point to the sun and also point to a star tracker in order to take celestial measurements.
According to NASA, Boeing’s Starliner program has been the recipient over the years of $4.82 billion in funding. After the painstaking development of the craft, NASA’s Stich stressed that his agency has been working diligently with Boeing in order to ensure the craft could transport the two astronauts as safely as possible.
