NASA’s Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2; here's all you need to know about the mission to ISS

NASA and Boeing are gearing up for a second joint uncrewed test flight of a commercial crew spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Orbital Flight Test-2. NASA is targeting May 19 for the launch at 6:54 p.m. EDT [May 20 at 4:24 am (IST)] from the Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch will see Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft launch atop the Atlas V rocket provided by the United Launch Alliance (ULA). But before the launch date approaches, here is all you need to know about the mission.

Purpose of the mission

Boeing is one of the two companies apart from SpaceX that won a NASA contract to develop spacecraft for launching cargo and crew to and from the space station. While SpaceX won NASA's approval for crew-cargo launches by proving itself in 2020 through the Demonstration-2 (Demo-2) mission, Boeing still doesn't have a license for such missions. The company made its first attempt in 2019 under the OFT-1 mission, but its spacecraft failed to dock at the ISS. 

(The Starliner capsule; Image: Twitter/@BoeingSpace)

The OFT-2 is Boeing's second shot at a NASA license as the Starliner is again bound for the space station, this time with around 362 kilograms of cargo. "OFT-2 will test the end-to-end capabilities of Starliner from launch to docking, atmospheric re-entry, and a desert landing in the western United States", NASA said in a statement. Besides, the data collected during the mission will also help the agency to certify Boeing’s crew transportation system to carry astronauts to and from the space station.

To make sure that the Starliner docks at the ISS this time, NASA and Boeing will verify data links and command capabilities by the station crew, and NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren aboard the station will provide assistance in the process. Starliner also will demonstrate its ability to perform an automated retreat in the event an issue arises during the approach. Additionally, the mission teams will also test Starliner’s vision-based navigation system as it autonomously docks with the space station about 24 hours after launch.

NASA said that the OFT-2 will also build on the objectives achieved during Starliner's first flight. Once the docking is successful, the capsule will spend five to 10 days in space and will return with about 272 kilograms of cargo.

The only passenger on the uncrewed flight

(Rosie the rocketeer; Image: NASA)

Although the OFT-2 mission will be uncrewed, Starliner's commander seat will be occupied by Boeing's anthropometric test device named Rosie the rocketeer. It is a dummy that was also launched during OFT-1 and was fitted with 15 sensors to collect data on what astronauts will experience during flights. "For OFT-2, spacecraft data capture ports previously connected to Rosie’s 15 sensors will be used to collect data from sensors placed along the seat pallet, which is the infrastructure that holds all the crew seats in place", NASA's statement read.