Boeing Crew Flight Test (Boe CFT) will be the first crewed mission of the

Boeing Starliner The Boeing CST-100 Starliner
is a class of two partially

and the third orbital flight test of the Starliner overall after the two uncrewed flight tests, OFT-1 and OFT-2. Though the launch date for the mission was scheduled for late 2021, various delays have pushed the launch of the CFT mission to no earlier than April 2023. It will fly with a crew of two NASA astronauts to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

for a one-week test flight.

Capsule

NASA announced that Boeing prepared to reassemble the vehicle for flight, following multiple checkouts, for the CFT mission in August 2020, and that new parachutes and airbags would be fitted. The CFT capsule's docking system has been modified to accommodate the new re-entry cover that debuted on the OFT-2 test flight.

Crew

Nicole Aunapu Mann Nicole "Duke" Victoria Aunapu Mann (born June 27, 1977) is an American test pilot and NASA astronaut. She is an F/A-18 Hornet pilot, and a graduate of the US Naval Academy, Stanford University and the US Naval Test Pilot School. She has over 2, ...

was initially assigned to this mission, which would have made her the first woman to fly on the maiden crewed flight of an orbital spacecraft, but was subsequently reassigned to the

SpaceX Crew-5 SpaceX Crew-5 is the fifth crewed operational NASA Commercial Crew Program flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the eighth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission launched on 5 October 2022 and transported four crew members to the Internat ...

mission as the first female commander of a NASA

Commercial Crew Program The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) provides commercially-operated crew transportation service to and from the International Space Station (ISS) under contract to NASA, conducting crew rotations between the expeditions of the International S ...

launch. Due to medical reasons,

Eric Boe Eric Allen Boe (born October 1, 1964) is a retired United States Air Force fighter pilot, Colonel, test pilot, and a current, active NASA astronaut. He flew as the pilot of Space Shuttle missions STS-126 and STS-133. Early life and education ...

, who was originally assigned to the mission in August 2018 as pilot was replaced by

Michael Fincke Edward Michael "Mike"/"Spanky" Fincke (born March 14, 1967) is an American astronaut who formerly held the American record for the most time in space (381.6 days). His record was broken by Scott Kelly on October 16, 2015. Mike Fincke was bor ...

on 22 January 2019. Boe will replace Fincke as the assistant to the chief for commercial crew in the astronaut office at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson was originally assigned to the flight as commander, but he was replaced by NASA astronaut

Barry Wilmore Barry Eugene "Butch" Wilmore (born December 29, 1962) is a NASA astronaut and United States Navy test pilot. He has had two spaceflights, the first of which was an 11-day Space Shuttle mission in November 2009, to the International Space Statio ...

on 7 October 2020. Ferguson cited family reasons for the replacement.

Matthew Dominick Matthew Stuart Dominick (born December 7, 1981; Commander (United States), CDR, United States Navy, USN) is a United States Navy, US Navy test pilot and NASA astronaut. He has more than 1,600 hours of flight time in 28 aircraft, 400 carrier-arr ...

replaced him on the backup crew. On 18 April 2022, NASA said that it has not finalized which of the cadre of Starliner astronauts, including

, and

Sunita Williams Sunita Lyn Williams (born September 19, 1965) is an American astronaut and United States Navy officer who formerly held the records for most spacewalks by a woman (seven) and most spacewalk time for a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes). Williams was ...

, will fly on this mission or the first operational Starliner mission. On 16 June 2022, NASA confirmed that this CFT mission will be a two-person flight test, consisting of Wilmore and Williams. Fincke will now train as the backup spacecraft test pilot and remains eligible for assignment to a future mission. As of now, Williams will become the first woman to fly on the maiden crewed flight of an orbital spacecraft type (

Judith Resnik Judith Arlene Resnik (April 5, 1949 – January 28, 1986) was an American electrical engineer, software engineer, biomedical engineer, pilot and NASA astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster. She was the fourth woman, ...

was the first female crew member on the maiden flight of an orbital spacecraft, the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

''Discovery'', followed by Kathryn Thornton on ''Endeavour'',

Shannon Walker Shannon Walker (born June 4, 1965) is an American physicist and a NASA astronaut selected in 2004. She launched on her first mission into space on June 25, 2010, onboard Soyuz TMA-19 and spent over 163 days in space. She returned to space fo ...

Crew Dragon Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has also launched private missions such as Ins ...

''Resilience'',

Kayla Barron Kayla Jane Barron (born September 19, 1987) is an American submarine warfare officer, engineer and NASA astronaut. Barron was selected in June 2017 as a member of the NASA Astronaut Group 22, and later qualified as an astronaut in 2020. Barron ...

on ''Endurance'', and

Samantha Cristoforetti Samantha Cristoforetti, OMRI (; born in Milan on 26 April 1977) is an Italian European Space Agency astronaut, former Italian Air Force pilot and engineer. She holds the record for the longest uninterrupted spaceflight by a European astronaut ( ...

and Jessica Watkins on ''Freedom'').

Mission

The third

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was originally designed by Lockheed Martin, now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Lockheed Mart ...

N22 launch vehicle variant will launch Starliner with a crew of two. The vehicle will dock with the

, and return to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

under parachutes for a ground-landing in the United States. Boeing teams continue refurbishing the crew module from the OFT-1 mission for the Crew Flight Test. This will be the first launch of a crewed spacecraft by an Atlas V launch vehicle. Based upon current space station resources and scheduling needs, a short duration mission with two astronaut test pilots is sufficient to meet all NASA and Boeing test objectives for CFT, which include demonstrating Starliner’s ability to safely fly operational crewed missions to and from the space station. To protect against unforeseen events with crew transportation to the station, NASA may extend the CFT docked duration up to six months and add an additional astronaut later, if needed.

References

{{Future spaceflights Boeing Starliner 2023 in spaceflight Future human spaceflights 2023 in the United States

Capsule

Crew

Mission

See also

References