Boeing sets Dec 17 for launch of unmanned Starliner
Capitalism in space: Boeing officials today announced that they are targeting December 17 as the date they will launch their Starliner capsule to ISS for its first unmanned demo flight.
The article also says they are have set November 4 for their pad abort test of the capsule.
If both are completed successfully they will be ready for their manned demo launch to ISS.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Capitalism in space: Boeing officials today announced that they are targeting December 17 as the date they will launch their Starliner capsule to ISS for its first unmanned demo flight.
The article also says they are have set November 4 for their pad abort test of the capsule.
If both are completed successfully they will be ready for their manned demo launch to ISS.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
If this goes according to schedule, this puts them marginally ahead of SpaceX, whose abort test is scheduled for the third week of December. I don’t think the December 17th date is coincidental – it will drown out its rival’s test. It will be intertesting to see if Musk causes the schedule to be radically revised – we’re dealing with BIG egos here. As a rail enthusiast, I’m inevitably reminded by the rivalry between the Pennsylvania and New York Central lines – if one announced a faster schedule New York-Chicago, the other matched it, with the same effective date. This should be entertaining!
Boeing should give up its extreme expensive and outdated rocket production methods and take SpaceX’s starship as an example. However, there even example of companies, which may help to produce Musk’s starship more efficient, faster and with higher quality.
[detected at NSF]
Building Stainless Steel Tanks on Location
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=98&v=w-ARF26P2rI
BTW, Musk says that later Raptor engine will cost only 250,000 dollar a piece, which means that all engines for SH/SS (>40 engines) will cost not more as one SLS RS-25D/E engine!
Bob you mentioned the pad abort test Nov 4 and the unmanned flight to the ISS Dec 17, but I believe Boeing has to do a flight abort test before they can fly a manned flight to ISS. Spacex has there flight abort test scheduled for mid Dec, if successful, after that they will be ready for there first manned flight to ISS
No, they don’t. Their sequence is pad abort–>unmanned test–>manned test–>six operational flights. Boeing’s manned test will be an extended flight lasting several months.
mkent, You are correct after some more research, Boeing has chose not to do an inflight abort test, because they are not required to do one, and Spacex is not either, but they chose to do one anyway.