Dreams Become Reality for NASA’s Boeing Flight Test Crew

Dreams Become Reality for NASA’s Boeing Flight Test Crew

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams hug after arriving at the Launch and Landing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, April 25, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Chris Stevens

Momentum is building for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test launch, scheduled for Monday, May 6, 2024.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived in a T-38 jet April 25 at the Launch and Landing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a short flight from Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA leaders welcomed Wilmore and Williams and held a short news conference.

“Our hearts and souls are in this spacecraft and a little part of us will be lifting off with Butch and Suni,” said NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Deputy Manager Dana Hutcherson, who has been with the program for 13 years.

Wilmore and Williams are targeting 10:34 p.m. EDT Monday, May 6, for launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and ULA’s (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This will be the first crewed flight of Starliner for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Click below to watch the earlier broadcast of the welcome ceremony.

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Elyna Niles-Carnes

NASA, Boeing Crew Lands in Florida for Starliner Mission

NASA, Boeing Crew Lands in Florida for Starliner Mission

NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test Crew Butch Wilmore (left), and Suni Williams (right) arrive in Florida on Thursday, April 25, 2024. Photo credit: NASA

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams landed April 25, at the Launch and Landing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a short flight from Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Paying homage to their piloting days as retired U.S. Navy captains, they flew to Kennedy in a T-38 jet. 

As part of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, Wilmore and Williams are the first to launch aboard the company’s Starliner spacecraft on a ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station. 

Shortly after 1 p.m. EDT, NASA leaders will hold a brief welcome ceremony with the following participants:

  • Jennifer Kunz, associate director, NASA Kennedy 
  • Dana Hutcherson, deputy manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program 
  • NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore 
  • NASA astronaut Suni Williams

The welcome ceremony will air live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.  

Meanwhile, NASA, Boeing, and ULA representatives are participating in the agency’s Flight Test Readiness Review at NASA Kennedy. The two-day event, which is scheduled to conclude April 25, verifies the mission readiness, including all systems, facilities, and teams that will support the launch.  

Liftoff is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. Monday, May 6, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The astronauts will spend about a week at the orbiting laboratory before the crew capsule makes a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States. 

Learn more about NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test by following the mission blog, the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook. 

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Elyna Niles-Carnes

Dragon Undocking Targeted for No Earlier Than Sunday

Dragon Undocking Targeted for No Earlier Than Sunday

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft docked to the International Space Station's Harmony module at 7:19 a.m. EDT Saturday, March 23, 2024. Credit: NASA TV
The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft docked to the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 7:19 a.m. EDT Saturday, March 23, 2024. Credit: NASA TV

Due to unfavorable weather conditions in the splashdown zones off the coast of Florida, NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than Sunday, April 28, for the undocking of the Dragon spacecraft from the space-facing port of the International Space Station as part of company’s 30th commercial resupply services mission for the agency.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Mark Garcia

Cosmonauts Begin Spacewalk for Hardware, Science Work

Cosmonauts Begin Spacewalk for Hardware, Science Work

Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (left) and Nikolai Chub (right) are pictured during a spacewalk on Oct.25, 2023, working on the Nauka science module.
Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (left) and Nikolai Chub (right) are pictured during a spacewalk on Oct.25, 2023, working on the Nauka science module.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub began a spacewalk at 10:57 a.m. EDT to complete the deployment of one panel on a synthetic radar communications system on the Russian segment of the complex and install equipment and experiments to analyze the level of corrosion on station surfaces and modules.

NASA’s coverage will continue on NASA+, NASA Television, YouTube, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.

Kononenko is wearing an Orlan spacesuit with red stripes, while Chub is wearing the suit with blue stripes. This is the seventh spacewalk in Kononenko’s career, and the second for Chub. It is the 270th spacewalk for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Mark Garcia

Roscosmos Spacewalkers Exiting Station Soon Live on NASA TV

Roscosmos Spacewalkers Exiting Station Soon Live on NASA TV

Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (left) and Nikolai Chub (right) are pictured during a spacewalk on Oct.25, 2023, to install and inspect hardware.
Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (left) and Nikolai Chub (right) are pictured during a spacewalk on Oct.25, 2023, to install and inspect hardware.

NASA Television coverage is underway for today’s spacewalk with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. The duo will venture outside the station’s Poisk airlock to complete the deployment of one panel on a synthetic radar system on the Nauka module and install equipment and experiments on the Poisk module to analyze the level of corrosion on station surfaces and modules.

NASA’s coverage is on NASA+, NASA Television, YouTube, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.

Kononenko and Chub will exit at about 10:55 a.m. EDT. Kononenko is wearing the Orlan spacesuit with red stripes, while Chub is wearing the suit with blue stripes. This is the seventh spacewalk in Kononenko’s career, and the second for Chub. It is the 270th spacewalk for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

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Mark Garcia