| |
| Manufacturer | Boeing |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Operator | Boeing |
| Applications | Crew Transfer Vehicle |
| Specifications | |
| Spacecraft type | Crewed capsule |
| Design life |
|
| Launch mass | 13,000 kg (29,000 lb) |
| Crew capacity | 7 |
| Dimensions |
|
| Volume | 11 m3 (390 cu ft) |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Production | |
| Status | In development and testing |
| Maiden launch | December 20, 2019 11:36:43 UT (uncrewed) |
The Boeing CST-100 Starliner (Crew Space Transportation) is a crew capsule manufactured by Boeing as its participation in NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program. Its primary purpose is to transport crew to the International Space Station (ISS) and to private space stations such as the proposed Bigelow Aerospace Commercial Space Station.
Starliner is similar in concept to the Orion spacecraft being built for NASA by Lockheed Martin. The capsule has a diameter of 4.56 meters (15.0 ft), which is slightly larger than the Apollo command module and smaller than the Orion capsule. The Starliner is to support larger crews of up to seven people and is being designed to be able to remain in-orbit for up to seven months with reusability of up to ten missions. It is designed to be compatible with four launch vehicles: Atlas V, Delta IV, Falcon 9, and Vulcan.
In the first phase of its CCDev program NASA awarded Boeing US$18 million in 2010 for preliminary development of the spacecraft. In the second phase Boeing was awarded a $93 million contract in 2011 for further spacecraft development. On August 3, 2012, NASA announced the award of $460 million to Boeing to continue work on the CST-100 under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) Program. On September 16, 2014, NASA selected the CST-100, along with SpaceX's Crew Dragon, for the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) program, with an award of $4.2 billion. On July 30, 2019, NASA had no specific dates for Commercial Crew launches, stating that this was under review pending a leadership change.
Starliner's uncrewed test flight launched with the Atlas V N22, on December 20, 2019 from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. During the test, the Starliner experienced an anomaly that precluded a docking with the International Space Station.
Background
CST-100 crew mock up
The design draws upon Boeing's experience with NASA's Apollo, Space Shuttle and ISS programs as well as the Orbital Express project sponsored by the Department of Defense. The CST-100 has no Orion heritage, but it is sometimes confused with the earlier and similar Orion-derived Orion Lite proposal that Bigelow Aerospace was reportedly working on with technical assistance from Lockheed Martin. It will use the NASA Docking System for docking and use the Boeing Lightweight Ablator for its heatshield.
The Starliner's solar cells will provide more than 2,900 watts of
electricity, will be placed on top of the micro-meteoroid debris shield
located at the bottom of the spacecraft's service module.
It is designed to be compatible with multiple launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, Delta IV, and Falcon 9, as well as the planned Vulcan.
Unlike earlier U.S. space capsules, the CST-100 will make airbag-cushioned landings on the ground rather than into water. Five landing areas are planned in the Western United States, which will give the CST-100 about 450 landing opportunities every year.
The CST-100 includes one space tourist seat, and the Boeing contract with NASA allows Boeing to price and sell passage to low Earth orbit on that seat.
Development
The CST-100 name was first used when the capsule was revealed to the public by Bigelow Aerospace CEO Robert Bigelow in June 2010. The letters CST stand for Crew Space Transportation. Although it has been reported that the number 100 in the name stands for 100 km, the height of the Kármán line which is one of several definitions of the boundary of space, the naming was in fact an arbitrary designation created by the corporate office. The Rocketdyne RS-88 (Bantam) engine will be used for its launch escape system.
Receiving the full fixed-price payments for the CCDev Phase 1 Space Act Agreement required a set of specific milestones to be met during 2010:
- Trade study and down-select between pusher-type and tractor-style launch escape system
- System definition review
- Abort System Hardware Demonstration Test
- Base Heat Shield Fabrication Demonstration
- Avionics Systems Integration Facility demonstration
- CM Pressure Shell Fabrication Demonstration
- Landing System Demonstration (drop test and water uprighting test)
- Life Support Air Revitalization demonstration
- Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking (AR&D) hardware/software demonstration
- Crew Module Mockup demonstration
CST-100 pressure vessel at the former Orbiter Processing Facility 3 in October 2011
In July 2010, Boeing stated that the capsule could be operational in
2015 with sufficient near-term approvals and funding, but also indicated
they would proceed with development of the CST-100
only if NASA implemented the commercial crew transport initiative that
was announced by the Obama administration in its FY11 budget request.
Boeing executive Roger Krone stated that NASA investment would allow
Boeing to close the business case, while this would be very difficult
without NASA. In addition a second destination besides the ISS would be
needed to close the business case and Krone said that cooperation with
Bigelow was crucial for this.
Boeing was awarded a $92.3 million contract by NASA in April 2011 to continue to develop the CST-100 under CCDev phase 2. On August 3, 2012, NASA announced the award of $460 million to Boeing to continue work on the CST-100 under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) Program.
Wind tunnel testing of CST-100's outer mold line in December 2011
On October 31, 2011, NASA announced that through a partnership with Space Florida, the Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at Kennedy Space Center would be leased to Boeing for manufacture and test of CST-100 spacecraft.
On September 16, 2014, NASA chose Boeing (CST-100) and SpaceX (Dragon V2) as the two companies that will be funded to develop systems to transport U.S. government crews to and from the International Space Station. Boeing won a $4.2 billion contract to complete and certify CST-100
spacecraft by 2017, while SpaceX won a $2.6 billion contract to
complete and certify their crewed Dragon spacecraft. The contracts
include at least one crewed flight test with at least one NASA astronaut
aboard. Once the Starliner achieves NASA certification, the contract
requires Boeing to conduct at least two, and as many as six, crewed
missions to the space station. NASA's William H. Gerstenmaier considers the CST-100 proposal as stronger than the two others.
Part of the agreement with NASA allows Boeing to sell seats for space tourists. Boeing proposed including one seat per flight for a space flight participant at a price that would be competitive with what Roscosmos charges tourists.
On September 4, 2015, Boeing announced that the CST-100 would officially be called the CST-100 Starliner, a name that follows the conventions of the 787 Dreamliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. In November 2015, NASA announced it had dropped Boeing from consideration in the multibillion-dollar Commercial Resupply Services second-phase competition to fly cargo to the International Space Station.
In May 2016, Boeing delayed its first scheduled CST-100 launch from 2017 to early 2018.
Then in October 2016, Boeing delayed its program by six months, from
early 2018 to late 2018, following supplier holdups and a production
problem on the second CST-100. By 2016, they were hoping to fly NASA astronauts to the ISS by December 2018.
In April 2018, NASA suggested the first planned two-person flight of the CST-100
Starliner, slated for November 2018, was now likely to occur in 2019 or
2020. If the delays are maintained it would be expected to carry one
additional crew member and extra supplies. Instead of staying for two
weeks as originally planned, NASA said the expanded crew could stay at
the station for as long as six months as a normal rotational flight.
Testing
Test firing of the RS-88 in December 2003
A variety of validation tests have been underway on test articles since 2011.
In September 2011, Boeing announced the completion of a set of ground drop tests to validate the design of the airbag cushioning system. The airbags are located underneath the heat shield of the CST-100, which is designed to be separated from the capsule while under parachute
descent at about 5,000 feet (1,500 m) altitude. The airbags are
deployed by filling with a mixture of compressed nitrogen and oxygen
gas, not with the pyro-explosive mixture sometimes used in automotive airbags. The tests were carried out in the Mojave Desert of southeast California,
at ground speeds between 10 and 30 miles per hour (16 and 48 km/h) in
order to simulate crosswind conditions at the time of landing. Bigelow
Aerospace built the mobile test rig and conducted the tests.
In April 2012, Boeing dropped a mock-up of its CST-100
commercial crew capsule over the Nevada desert at the Delamar Dry Lake
near Alamo, Nevada, successfully testing the craft's three main landing
parachutes from 11,000 feet (3,400 m).
In August 2013, Boeing announced that two NASA astronauts
evaluated communications, ergonomics, and crew-interface aspects of the CST-100,
showing how future astronauts will operate in the spacecraft as it
transports them to the International Space Station and other low Earth orbit destinations.
Boeing reported in May 2016 that its test schedule would slip by
eight months in order to reduce the mass of the spacecraft and
aerodynamics issues anticipated during launch and ascent on the Atlas V rocket. The Orbital Flight Test is scheduled for spring 2019. The booster for this Orbital Flight Test, an Atlas V N22 rocket, is being assembled at ULA's facility at Decatur, Alabama. The first crewed flight (Boe-CFT)
is scheduled for summer 2019, depending on test results from Boe-OFT.
It is planned to last 14 days and carry one NASA astronaut and one
Boeing test pilot to the ISS.
On April 5, 2018, NASA announced that the first planned two-person
flight, originally slated for November 2018, is now likely to occur in
2019 or 2020. If this delay occurs the mission could be expected to
carry one additional crew member and supplies. NASA said the expanded
crew could stay at the station for as long as six months as a normal
rotational flight. This is due to the ending of the agreement for Russia
to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station in late
2019. NASA has named its first Commercial Crew astronaut cadre of four veteran astronauts to work with SpaceX and Boeing: Robert Behnken, Eric Boe, Sunita Williams, and Douglas Hurley. In July 2018 Boeing announced the assignment of former NASA astronaut Chris Ferguson to the Boe-CFT mission.
In July 2018, a test anomaly was reported in which there was a hypergolic propellant
leak due to several faulty abort system valves. Consequentially the
first unpiloted orbital mission was delayed to April 2019, and the first
crew launch rescheduled to August 2019. In March 2019, Reuters reported these test flights had been delayed by at least three months, and in April Boeing announced that the unpiloted orbital mission is now scheduled for August 2019.
CST-100 Starliner and its service module atop the test stand at Launch Complex 32, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, in preparation for the Pad Abort Test.
In May 2019, all major hotfire, including simulations of low-altitude
abort thruster testing, was completed using a full up service module
test article that was "flight-like", meaning that the service module
test rig used in the recent hotfire testing included fuel and helium
tanks, reaction control system, orbital maneuvering and attitude control
thrusters, launch abort engines, and all necessary fuel lines and
avionics that the ones that will be used for crewed missions will have.
This clears the way for the pad abort test and the subsequent uncrewed
and crewed flights later.
A pad abort test took place on November 4, 2019.
The capsule accelerated away from its pad, but then one of the three
parachutes failed to deploy and the capsule landed with only two
parachutes.
Landing was however deemed safe, and the test a success. Boeing did not
expect the malfunction of one parachute to affect the Starliner
development schedule.
First orbital flight test
The orbital flight test launched on December 20, 2019, but after
deployment, an 11 hour offset in the mission clock of Starliner caused
the spacecraft to compute that "it was in an orbital insertion burn",
when it was not. This engine burn consumed more fuel than expected,
precluding a docking with the International Space Station. The spacecraft landed at New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range two days after launch. After the successful landing, the spacecraft was named the good ship "Calypso" (after the research vessel RV Calypso for the oceanographic researcher Jacques-Yves Cousteau) by the commander of the USCV-2 mission, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams.
List of flights
List includes only completed or currently manifested missions. Launch dates are listed in UTC.
| Mission | Launch date
(UTC)
|
Crew | Remarks | Duration | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starliner pad abort test | November 4, 2019, 14:15 UTC | N/A | Pad abort test, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. One of three parachutes failed to open due to being rigged incorrectly before launch, but parachute system functioned adequately. | 95 Seconds | Success |
| Boe-OFT | December 20, 2019, 11:36:43 UTC | N/A | Uncrewed orbital test flight of Starliner. The mission's main objective of ISS rendezvous was aborted due to software incorrectly keeping mission time, leading to a late orbital insertion burn with excessive fuel expenditure. Starliner landed in New Mexico two days after launch. | 2 days | Partial failure due to a MET anomaly. Rendezvous with ISS cancelled. |
| Boe-CFT | First half of 2020 |  Christopher Ferguson Mike Fincke Nicole Mann
|
First crewed test flight of the CST-100 |
|
Planned |
| USCV-2 | Late 2020 | Sunita Williams Josh Cassada  Thomas Pesquet  TBA
|
First operational flight of the CST-100. This will be a reflight of the OFT vehicle which has been christened 'Calypso' by USCV-2 commander Williams upon its return to earth. |
|
Planned |
Crew
CST-100
Starliner mockup and the astronauts initially selected for the first
two missions, from left to right: Sunita Williams, Josh Cassada, Eric
Boe, Nicole Mann, and Christopher Ferguson.
On August 3, 2018, NASA announced the astronauts who will participate in the first Starliner flights. Eric Boe was one of those initially selected, but was replaced by Michael Fincke in January 2019 due to "personal medical reasons".
- First test crew - Boe-CFT: Michael Fincke, Christopher Ferguson, Nicole Aunapu Mann
- First mission crew - USCV-2: Sunita Williams, Josh Cassada, Thomas Pesquet, Andrei Borisenko
Space tourism
Space Adventures announced that it has acquired rights to sell tickets to the ISS on board the CST-100 once operational flights begin.
Technology partners
- Aerojet Rocketdyne
- Airborne Systems
- Alliant Techsystems
- Bigelow Aerospace
- Samsung
- Spincraft
