Boeing & NASA - Orbital Flight Test (OFT) patch.
December 22, 2019
Image above: The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft lands under three main parachutes in White Sands, New Mexico, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019. Photo Credits: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani.
At 7:23 a.m. EST, the spacecraft began its deorbit burn that puts Starliner on the right path to land at White Sands, New Mexico at 7:57 a.m. The service module has successfully separated from the crew module containing Rosie the rocketeer, an anthropometric test device whose sensors will provide teams on Earth valuable data for when crew members land in the Starliner.
Starliner landing
At 7:53 the drogue parachute will be released, pulling out the spacecraft’s three main parachutes that will slow the capsule to a safe landing on Earth a little more than an hour before sunrise in the southwestern desert.
First images of Starliner after landing and hatch opening
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft completed the first touchdown on land of a human-rated space capsule in U.S. history Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019, at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico, wrapping up the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Illustration of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. Image Credit: Boeing
Starliner settled gently onto its air bags at 7:58 a.m. EST in a pre-dawn landing that helps set the stage for future crewed landings at the same site. The landing followed a deorbit burn at 7:23 a.m., separation of the spacecraft’s service module, and successful deployment of its three main parachutes and six airbags.
Inspecting the capsule, astronaut Suni Williams, who will command the next mission using the spacecraft, announced the crew had named it Calypso, after the ship captained by Jacque Cousteau in his ocean exploration.
Image above: The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is seen resting on its airbags after it landed in White Sands, New Mexico, at 7:58 a.m. EST on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019. Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test (OFT) was the maiden mission of the Starliner crew capsule to the International Space Station. Because of an off-nominal orbital insertion, Starliner was not able to reach the station.
Related articles:
Boeing suffers another setback ... In space, Starliner anomaly explained
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/12/boeing-suffers-another-setback-in-space.html
Boeing Starliner Orbital Flight Test Update
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/12/boeing-starliner-orbital-flight-test.html
Liftoff! Atlas V Clears the Launch Pad with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner Spacecraft
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/12/liftoff-atlas-v-clears-launch-pad-with.html
Related links:
CST-100 Starliner: https://www.boeing.com/space/starliner/
Commercial Crew: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Videos, Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/NASA TV/Aubrey Gemignani/SciNews.
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