December 20 will be a historic date: Boeing is preparing a flight of Starliner capsules!
The American company announced that it is ready for the great test of its manned CST-100 capsule, thanks to which astronauts will be able to travel between Earth and the International Space Station.
The launch of the Atlas 5 rocket will take place on December 20 from start complex no. 41, located at Cape Canaveral. During the Orbital Flight Test (OFT) mission, the manned capsule will travel to the International Space Station. According to the plan, on board the CST-100 there will be supplies and gifts for astronauts and an experimental mannequin called Rosie.
As it will be a test flight, Boeing engineers will monitor the entire mission on an ongoing basis. Later, these valuable data will be analyzed and important modifications to the capsule will be made on their basis. The engineers emphasize that if everything is not done up to the last button, then the most important test will not take place, in which the astronauts will be on the board of the capsule and will go on a journey to the cosmic house.
This flight is expected to take place in the middle of next year. We remind you that a month ago a Starliner capsule escape system test took place. Unfortunately, it wasn't perfect. The capsule has landed too close to where the service module crashed. This is a huge problem because it releases clouds of toxic gases that surround the capsule. It may seem like no big deal, but when the capsule falls to the ground, the system will equalize the pressure inside it and then draw in air from outside. If poisonous gases surround the capsule, they can endanger the health of astronauts.
But it is not everything. One of the three parachutes did not open during the test. The investigation revealed that the fault was not on the equipment side, but on a service error. Someone forgot to remove the safety pin. This may seem ridiculous, but it is a very serious matter that has reduced the company's credibility in the eyes of NASA.