The Boeing Starliner capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time on Friday, 24 hours after liftoff from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA.
The CST-100 Starliner spacecraft has successfully docked with the ISS Harmony module after a series of autonomous maneuvers monitored by members of Expedition 67 aboard the station.
The Starliner arrived at the ISS unmanned and carrying approximately 230 kilograms of materials and equipment from NASA and 136 kilograms of material from Boeing, as well as an anthropomorphic test device with 15 sensors that will collect data on future astronauts during the flight.
The Boeing Starliner capsule, about 5 meters tall and capable of carrying a crew of up to seven, left for the orbital laboratory on Thursday after being launched on an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida.
The success of this important unmanned mission, called OFT-2 (Orbital Flight Test 2), aims to demonstrate Starliner’s capabilities from launch to return to Earth, and thus earn NASA certification that will allow it to fly astronauts to and from the ISS. , as the private company SpaceX is already doing.
The capsule will spend five days in an orbital lab before heading back, ending in the New Mexico desert, where it will land a 270kg payload, including three refillable oxygen and nitrogen refill tanks that provide the crew with breathable air. . station crew members.
Prior to that mission in 2019, Boeing made its first attempt with the Starliner, which was successfully placed into orbit after liftoff but failed on its final mission to reach the space station.
Subject to certification, Boeing has a contract worth more than $4.2 billion (four billion euros) for six more missions to the ISS, with the first manned mission scheduled for later this year, with a yet-to-be-determined date.[quatromilmilhõesdeeuros)paramaisseismissõesàISSestandoaprimeiramissãotripuladaprevistaparaofinaldesteanonumadataaindapordeterminar[quatromilmilhõesdeeuros)paramaisseismissõesàISSestandoaprimeiramissãotripuladaprevistaparaofinaldesteanonumadataaindapordeterminar
