NASA and Boeing target new launch date for next Starliner flight test

NASA and Boeing are targeting no earlier than Thursday, March 25, for the launch of Starliner's second uncrewed flight test as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. Boeing's Orbital Flight Test-2, or OFT-2, is a critical developmental milestone on the company's path to fly crew missions for NASA to the International Space Station.

The target launch date is enabled by an opening on the Eastern Range, the availability of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, steady progress on hardware and software, and an International Space Station docking opportunity.

Boeing recently mated the spacecraft's reusable crew module on its brand new service module inside the Starliner production factory at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Teams are working to complete outfitting of the vehicle's interior before loading cargo and conducting final spacecraft checkouts.

Boeing also recently completed the formal requalification of Starliner's OFT-2 flight software. Teams conducted a full software review and several series of tests to verify Starliner's software meets design specifications. Boeing also will complete an end-to-end simulation of the OFT-2 test flight using flight hardware and final versions of Starliner's flight software to model the vehicle's expected behavior before flight.

The OFT-2 mission will launch Starliner on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, dock to the space station and return to land in the western United States about a week later as part of an end-to-end test flight to prove the system is ready to fly crew.

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