NASA Announces Updated Crew Assignment for Boeing Flight Test

NASA astronaut E. Michael "Mike" Fincke has been added to the crew of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner's Crew Flight Test, scheduled to launch later this year.

Fincke takes the place of astronaut Eric Boe, originally assigned to the mission in August 2018. Boe is unable to fly due to medical reasons; he will replace Fincke as the assistant to the chief for commercial crew in the astronaut office at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

This will be Fincke's fourth trip to space since joining the astronaut corps in 1996. He previously served as an International Space Station flight engineer and science officer on Expedition 9, and commanded the station on Expedition 18. He returned as a mission specialist for the STS-134 crew on space shuttle Endeavour's final mission. So far, the Pennsylvania native has spent 382 days in space and performed nine spacewalks.

In addition, Fincke, who is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, has served as assistant to the chief for commercial crew in the astronaut office since 2013. In that role, he has worked closely with both Boeing and SpaceX, and with the astronauts assigned to their vehicles on the development and testing of the new spacecraft.

Fincke will begin training immediately alongside NASA's Nicole Mann and Boeing's Chris Ferguson, who were both assigned to the mission in August 2018.

The Starliner's Crew Flight Test will be the first time that the new spacecraft, which is being developed and built by Boeing as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, is launched into space with humans on board. An uncrewed flight test of the Starliner will test the spacecraft's critical systems prior to Fincke, Ferguson and Mann's launch.

Related Links
Commercial Crew Program at NASA
Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

India plans manned space mission by December 2021
Bangalore, India (AFP) Jan 11, 2019
India will send its first manned mission into space by December 2021, the head of the country's space agency said on Friday. The three-person mission would make the Asian giant the fourth country after Russia, the United States and China to put people in space. "We are planning to have the first unmanned mission by December 2020, the second by July 2021, and the manned mission by December 2021," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan said in Bangalore. Plans ... read more