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The first crewed flight of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner is on track for tonight. Liftoff of the Atlas 5 carrying the Starliner on the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. Eastern. Officials said at a briefing Friday that they were not dealing with any major technical issues and the weather forecast is favorable. The CFT mission will be the first time Starliner has carried astronauts, as NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will fly the spacecraft to the International Space Station in a final test before certifying the vehicle for operational missions. The first operational mission, Starliner-1, is scheduled for early next year, with NASA and Canadian astronauts assigned to three of its four seats. However, NASA said Friday it is unlikely a Russian cosmonaut will take the fourth seat as Roscosmos waits until the spacecraft makes a long-duration mission before assigning crew to it. That will temporarily disrupt plans for "integrated crews" of NASA astronauts on Soyuz and Roscosmos cosmonauts on commercial crew vehicles. [SpaceNews]
The Starliner mission will also be the first crewed launch of United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5. The rocket, making its 100th launch on the CFT mission, has undergone a few changes to support crewed missions, like an emergency detection system, but ULA says the rocket is otherwise a "standard" Atlas 5 used for satellites launches. NASA went through an extensive review process to certify the rocket for carrying astronauts. Boeing has a contract to continue using Atlas 5 for its six operational Starliner missions for NASA, and is in discussions with ULA about potentially human-rating the Vulcan Centaur for additional Starliner missions. [SpaceNews]
The U.S. Air Force is preparing to test the ability of a single terminal to seamlessly communicate with both government and commercial satellites. The test will showcase newly developed communications terminals capable of tapping into multiple commercial and military satellite constellations at the same time while meeting security requirements, a capability the Pentagon currently lacks. It is a key milestone in the Air Force Research Laboratory's Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet, or DEUCSI, a program launched in 2018 to explore augmenting military communications by leveraging the growing commercial satellite internet industry. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX unveiled Saturday long-awaited EVA suits that will be worn on an upcoming private astronaut mission. The company revealed the suits, which are modified versions of the pressure suits worn inside the Crew Dragon spacecraft by astronauts but which will now allow astronauts to perform spacewalks. The suits feature changes ranging from improved joints to a helmet with a heads-up display. The four-person Polaris Dawn crew will wear the suits on their mission, now scheduled for launch in early summer, with two of the four exiting the capsule for a brief spacewalk. [SpaceNews]
A Chinese lunar sample return mission has a surprise payload: a rover. Images of the Chang'e-6 spacecraft that launched Friday showed a small rover attached to its side. Little is known about the rover, but it is mentioned in a post from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics (SIC) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), suggesting it carries an infrared imaging spectrometer. It is not clear how the rover will descend to the surface or how it will communicate with the lander. [SpaceNews]
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NASA has selected nine companies to perform studies of commercial services they could offer at Mars. The studies include examining the ability to deliver small and large payloads to Mars orbit and provide imaging and communications services. NASA awarded the studies to see if it would be feasible to use commercial partners for some capabilities it needs for its future Mars exploration program. The studies are separate from ongoing efforts to examine alternatives to the Mars Sample Return program. [SpaceNews]
A German company successfully launched its first suborbital rocket from Australia. The SR75 rocket by HyImpulse launched Friday from a site managed by Australian company Southern Launch in South Australia. HyImpulse called the launch a success but did not disclose the peak altitude achieved by the rocket. The SR75, a hybrid rocket using paraffin and liquid oxygen as propellants, is designed to carry payloads of up to 250 kilograms to an altitude of 250 kilometers. It is a precursor to SL1, a small orbital launch vehicle. [Reuters]
SpaceX's Starlink will soon be available in Indonesia. A government minister said on Friday that SpaceX had completed the paperwork needed for a license to provide Starlink services in the country, with a formal rollout planned "as soon as possible" and likely in the next two weeks. Indonesia is one of the most populous countries where Starlink is not yet available, and the service will be used to provide connectivity in remote areas not served by other providers. [Antara]
A NASA astronomer and a former astronaut and center director have each received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Jane Rigby and Ellen Ochoa were among the recipients of the award given by President Biden at a White House ceremony on Friday. Rigby is the senior project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope and who played key roles in the telescope's development. Ochoa flew on four shuttle missions and later served as director of the Johnson Space Center. [NASA]
| | The Week Ahead
Monday: - Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 12:36 p.m. Eastern.
- Online: Rocket Lab releases its first quarter financial results and holds an earnings call at 5 p.m. Eastern.
- Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of an Atlas 5 carrying Boeing's CST-100 Starliner on the Crew Flight Test mission at 10:34 p.m. Eastern.
- Taiyuan, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 6C rocket carrying an undisclosed payload at 11:20 p.m. Eastern.
Monday-Wednesday: Monday-Friday: Tuesday: - Kennedy Space Center, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 11:08 a.m. Eastern.
- Online: Virgin Galactic releases its first quarter financial results and holds an earnings call at 5 p.m. Eastern.
- Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 10:48 p.m. Eastern.
Tuesday-Wednesday: Wednesday: Wednesday-Thursday: Wednesday-Friday: Thursday: Saturday: - Jiuquan, China: Projected launch of a Long March 4C carrying two experimental satellites at 7 p.m. Eastern.
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