A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying Boeing’s Starliner capsule with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams has reached Max Q. The milestone is the moment of peak aerodynamic pressure on the rocket.
Following Max Q will be Atlas V booster engine cutoff and separation.
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Elyna Niles-Carnes
We have liftoff! The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, carrying Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, commander, and Suni Williams, pilot, are on a course to the International Space Station.
The crew is on a roughly 25.5-hour journey with rendezvous and docking expected at 12:15 p.m. EDT, Thursday, June 6.
The crew flight test mission makes history in several ways. As the first crewed launch of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, Williams is the first female astronaut to fly on the first flight of a crewed spacecraft. The launch also marks the first crewed launch on the ULA Atlas V rocket and the first crewed launch on an Atlas-family class rocket since Gordon Cooper on the last Mercury program flight aboard “Faith 7” in May 1963.
Next up is Max Q, or the moment of peak aerodynamic pressure on the rocket.
Launch coverage on NASA+ will end shortly after Starliner orbital insertion, happening about 30 minutes from now. NASA Television will provide continuous coverage leading up to docking at the space station and through hatch opening and welcome remarks.
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Elyna Niles-Carnes
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are safely in orbit on the first crewed flight test aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft bound for the International Space Station.
As part of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, the astronauts lifted off at 10:52 a.m. EDT Wednesday on a ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on an end-to-end test of the Starliner system.
“Two bold NASA astronauts are well on their way on this historic first test flight of a brand-new spacecraft,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Boeing’s Starliner marks a new chapter of American exploration. Human spaceflight is a daring task – but that’s why it’s worth doing. It’s an exciting time for NASA, our commercial partners, and the future of exploration. Go Starliner, Go Butch and Suni!”
As part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, the flight test will help validate the transportation system, launch pad, rocket, spacecraft, in-orbit operations capabilities, and return to Earth with astronauts aboard as the agency prepares to certify Starliner for rotational missions to the space station. Starliner previously flew two uncrewed orbital flights, including a test to and from the space station, along with a pad abort demonstration.
“With Starliner’s launch, separation from the rocket, and arrival on orbit, Boeing’s Crew Flight Test is right on track,” said Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program. “Everyone is focused on giving Suni and Butch a safe, comfortable, ride and performing a successful test mission from start to finish.”
During Starliner’s flight, Boeing will monitor a series of automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Houston. NASA teams will monitor space station operations throughout the flight from the Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“Flying crew on Starliner represents over a decade of work by the Commercial Crew Program and our partners at Boeing and ULA,” said Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “For many of us, this is a career-defining moment bringing on a new crew transportation capability for our agency and our nation. We are going to take it one step at a time, putting Starliner through its paces, and remaining vigilant until Butch and Suni safely touch down back on Earth at the conclusion of this test flight.”
Starliner will autonomously dock to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at approximately 12:15 p.m. Thursday, June 6, and remain at the orbital laboratory for about a week.
Wilmore and Williams will help verify the spacecraft is performing as intended by testing the environmental control system, the displays and control system, and by maneuvering the thrusters, among other tests during flight.
After a safe arrival at the space station, Wilmore and Williams will join the Expedition 71 crew of NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matt Dominick, Tracy C. Dyson, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko.
NASA’s arrival and in-flight event coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Mission coverage will continue on NASA Television channels throughout Starliner’s flight and resume on NASA+ prior to docking.
Thursday, June 6
9:30 a.m. – Arrival coverage begins on NASA+, the NASA app, and YouTube, and continues on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
12:15 p.m. – Targeted docking
2 p.m. – Hatch opening
2:20 p.m. – Welcome remarks
3:30 p.m. – Post-docking news conference at NASA Johnson with the following participants:
Coverage of the post-docking news conference will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
5:50 p.m. – NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Associate Administrator Jim Free, Associate Administrator for Space Operations Ken Bowersox, and Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche will speak with Wilmore and Williams about their launch aboard the Starliner spacecraft.
Coverage of the Earth to space call will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
Saturday, June 8
8:50 a.m. – NASA astronauts Wilmore and Williams will provide a tour of Starliner.
Coverage of the in-orbit event will stream live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
Monday, June 10
11 a.m. – Williams will speak to students from Sunita L. Williams Elementary School in Needham, Massachusetts, in an event aboard the space station.
Coverage of the Earth to space call will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
Tuesday, June 11
3:15 p.m. – Wilmore will speak to students from Tennessee Tech University in an event aboard the space station.
Coverage of the Earth to space call will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
Meet NASA’s Crew
Wilmore is the commander for the mission. A veteran of two spaceflights, Wilmore has 178 days in space under his belt. In 2009, he served as a pilot aboard space shuttle Atlantis for the STS-129 mission. Additionally, Wilmore served as a flight engineer for Expedition 41 until November 2014, when he assumed command of the space station after arrival of the Expedition 42 crew. He returned to Earth the following March. Prior to his selection by NASA in 2000, the father of two obtained both his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, before graduating with another master’s degree in Aviation Systems from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is also a graduate of the United States Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Maryland, and has completed four operational deployments during his tenure as a fleet naval officer and aviator.
Williams is the spacecraft pilot for the flight test. Williams has spent 322 days in space across two missions: Expedition 14/15 in 2006 through 2007, and Expedition 32/33 in 2012. The Massachusetts native also conducted seven spacewalks, totaling 50 hours and 40 minutes. Before her career began with NASA in 1998, Williams graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Physical Science from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, before obtaining her master’s degree in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne. In total, she has logged more than 3,000 flight hours in over 30 different aircraft.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program has delivered on its goal of safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station from the United States through a partnership with American private industry. This partnership is changing the arc of human spaceflight history by opening access to low Earth orbit and the space station to more people, science, and commercial opportunities. The space station remains the springboard to NASA’s next great leap in space exploration, including future missions to the Moon under Artemis and, eventually, Mars.
Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew program at:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
-end-
Josh Finch / Jimi Russell / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Steven Siceloff / Danielle Sempsrott / Stephanie Plucinsky
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-867-2468
steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov / danielle.c.sempsrott@nasa.gov / stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov
Leah Cheshier
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
leah.d.cheshier@nasa.gov
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Tiernan P. Doyle
2 min read
This past week on Mars, Perseverance made a pit stop near Overlook Mountain to abrade a rock called Old Faithful Geyser. This target is situated within the Western side of the Margin Unit, an area around the upper edge of Jezero Crater that is astrobiologically-interesting due to its abundant carbonate. Carbonate-bearing rocks have been a major scientific focus throughout this campaign, which began with Perseverance entering the Eastern side of the Margin Unit on Sol 915 of the mission (1 sol = 1 day on Mars) in September of 2023, about 240 sols ago, then roving steadily Westward. So far, Perseverance has collected 3 cores from this Unit, including Pelican Point on Sol 923, Lefroy Bay on Sol 942, and Comet Geyser on Sol 1088. Proximity and remote science observations associated with each of these targets have all confirmed the presence of carbonate, but the grains and mineral assemblages in each rock are unique, which may indicate that carbonates in the Eastern and Western parts of the Margin have experienced different formation mechanisms and/or alteration histories. In particular, the team is interested in understanding whether the carbonate-bearing rocks in the West formed through sedimentary, igneous, or volcaniclastic processes.
To investigate the origin of Western Margin Unit carbonates, the team decided to stop off at Old Faithful Geyser to conduct an opportunistic abrasion on Sol 1151, then measure the rock with the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), a proximity science instrument carried on the rover’s arm. PIXL maps elemental distributions across fine scales (each PIXL map is a few square millimeters), and the Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering (WATSON) camera takes complementary images of rocks from a similar close-up scale to record rock textures, grain boundaries, and color distributions. PIXL and WATSON will assess differences or similarities in composition in the Old Faithful Geyser abrasion, as compared to other targets across the Margin Unit, in hopes of better understanding how carbonates from East to West formed and transformed through time. In addition to helping the team unravel the history of Jezero Crater’s carbonates that record changes along the Margin, the observations at Old Faithful Geyser would provide additional context for the three collected Margin Unit core samples if they are brought back to Earth by Mars Sample Return (MSR) in the future!
Written by Denise Buckner, Student Collaborator at University of Florida
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3 min read
Earth planning date: Monday, June 3, 2024
You know that feeling at the ice cream shop when you’re presented with so many tantalizing options and you have to narrow it down to just a few to taste test, and then you have to strategize how to fit all the best flavors in your bowl? That’s what the past few planning shifts have felt like on Mars. There are just too many cool rocks to choose from!
Curiosity is currently investigating “Whitebark Pass” (which sounds like it should be an ice cream flavor, right?) with a variety of rock textures and colors in our workspace. We spent the weekend at this location, investigating some of the light-toned, pitted clasts and the gray crumbly material that lines the slab. Then there’s the slab itself, and some bright white clasts that we crushed with the rover wheel which caught our eye. The Navcam image above shows the rover arm going in for a close inspection of the slab.
Today’s 2-sol plan includes another helping of contact science and a lot of targeted remote sensing. Essentially the team asked to try a scoop of the tan stuff, some gray stuff on the side, and add in the crumbly white bits while you’re at it. This translated to the team planning DRT, MAHLI, and APXS on “Gem Lakes” to investigate the top of this slab, MAHLI and APXS hovering over “Convict Lake” to assess a white rock that was crushed by the rover wheel, and a MAHLI dogs eye mosaic on “Starr Minaret” to get a detailed view of the textures in the gray material. Then we sprinkled in a number of ChemCam and Mastcam activities in the targeted remote sensing blocks. The team planned ChemCam LIBS on some different textures at “Cold Springs” and “Fishgut Lake” (umm, maybe I’ll skip that flavor…) and a ChemCam passive observation on “Quarry Peak” to assess a nearby light-toned slab. The team also planned a long distance ChemCam RMI to investigate the distribution of light-toned clasts at “Camp Four.” Multiple Mastcam mosaics are planned to document the ChemCam targets, monitor areas for change detection, characterize the diversity of textures, and assess stratigraphic relationships. And for good measure we also planned environmental monitoring activities including a Navcam line of sight observation, Mastcam tau, Navcam deck monitoring and dust devil survey, in addition to standard DAN and REMS observations.
You’d think we’d be stuffed by now, but the team is already strategizing what else we can get in the next plan before driving away. A sure sign of a delicious workspace.
Written by Lauren Edgar, Planetary Geologist at USGS Astrogeology Science Center
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