November 6, 2022
By Zubi
The aerospace giant now plans to launch the first crewed flight of its Starliner capsule, a two-astronaut test flight to the International Space Station.
"The date adjustment works closely with NASA and Boeing to provide spacecraft traffic visits to the space station," NASA officials wrote.
Boeing previously looked to December 2022 for the liftoff of its first crewed mission, known as the Crew Flight Test (CFT).
That goal was pushed back to February 2023 to allow more time to resolve issues identified during the capsule's maiden voyage to the ISS.
That mission, Uncrewed Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2), took place in May. As the name suggests.
During the first attempt, the Starliner encountered a variety of software problems, being stuck in the wrong orbit for rendezvous with the orbiting lab.
OFT-2 was successful, but it didn't go completely smoothly. Starliner encountered some minor anomalies.
Such as the problems with many of its thrusters, that NASA and Boeing are still studying in the lead-up to the launch of the CFT.
"Starliner and United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket hardware are on track for preparation by early 2023," NASA officials wrote in the update.