Rival companies Boeing and SpaceX are gearing up for a busy week, with each launching their rockets and spacecraft on crucial test flights.
Boeing will attempt to launch two NASA astronauts aboard the Starliner capsule to the International Space Station for the third time on Wednesday. The launch is scheduled for 10:52 a.m. ET from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The next day, SpaceX will conduct a fourth unmanned test flight of its Starship mega-rocket. Thursday’s launch will take place at SpaceX’s Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas, with a target launch window starting at 8 a.m. ET.
The two companies are seen as competitors in the space industry, but the launches this week have different goals. Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft was developed in partnership with NASA to transport its astronauts to and from the space station – a commercial service SpaceX has been performing for the agency since 2020.
Boeing’s third attempt to launch astronauts into space
If Boeing’s first crewed test flight is successful, it would pave the way for the Starliner capsule to conduct routine flights to the space station for NASA, challenging SpaceX’s dominance.
Aboard the Starliner are NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who plan to spend about a week on the space station before returning to Earth and landing at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Starliner’s final launch attempt was aborted Saturday with less than four minutes to go before liftoff after an automatic abort was triggered by one of the computers that controls the Atlas V rocket. The rocket is manufactured by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
It was Boeing’s second launch attempt. The first, on May 6, was sunk with about two hours left in the countdown due to a problem with a valve on the rocket. A helium leak was later discovered in the Starliner capsule’s propulsion system, leading to further delays.
Boeing’s Starliner program has generally been plagued by delays and technical problems. During the spaceship’s first unmanned flight in 2019, software problems forced mission controllers to interrupt the journey. The company’s next attempt was subsequently postponed several times due to fuel valve problems. It wasn’t until 2022 that Boeing completed an unmanned flight to and from the space station.
SpaceX’s spaceship could take NASA astronauts to the moon
Starship’s test flight Thursday is intended to demonstrate technologies and techniques that will be critical in future missions to the moon.
Starship is the most powerful rocket ever developed and is designed to be completely reusable. The system is expected to play a major role in NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon: NASA selected Starship to take astronauts to the lunar surface in the Artemis III mission, which could launch in 2026.
SpaceX also hopes to use Starship to eventually reach Mars.
NASA is separately developing its own Space Launch System megarocket and Orion spacecraft for missions to the moon. As part of the Artemis program, NASA is considering conducting regular missions to establish a base camp on the lunar surface before eventually venturing to Mars.
SpaceX made steady progress on each of its three previous Starship tests. The rocket’s debut flight in April 2023 ended when the booster exploded minutes after launch. A second Starship launch in November achieved several milestones, including the separation of the first stage spacecraft and the upper stage spacecraft, but the company lost contact with the vehicle shortly afterwards.
During Starship’s third test flight in March, the spacecraft successfully reached Earth orbit, but the vehicle was lost as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere. Still, SpaceX said it was able to complete several technology demonstrations, including transferring propellant between two of the spacecraft’s tanks in orbit and opening and closing Starship’s payload bay door in space – which could eventually be used to release satellites.
“This latest test provided valuable data for the eventual ship-to-ship transfer of propellant, enabling missions such as returning astronauts to the moon under NASA’s Artemis program,” SpaceX said in a statement.
During Starship’s upcoming fourth test flight, SpaceX aims to demonstrate that both the upper stage spacecraft and the rocket’s first stage booster, known as Super Heavy, can make controlled, safe landings on Earth.
During the final test flight, a planned burn in the landing process failed, SpaceX said, and the Super Heavy booster ultimately broke apart over the Gulf of Mexico. This time, the company hopes to carry out the landing successfully, achieving a “soft splashdown” of the booster in the Gulf of Mexico. The spacecraft also wants to gain ‘controlled access’ through the Earth’s atmosphere before it ends up in the Indian Ocean.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
