STARLINER COMPLETES OFT-2 TEST FLIGHT WITH WHITE SANDS LANDING - After successfully rendezvousing and docking with the International Space Station (ISS), Boeing’s Starliner completed its mission, arriving back to Earth after a six-day-long mission in low Earth orbit. The spacecraft autonomously undocked from the forward-facing port at the Harmony module of the ISS at 2:36 p.m. today, wrapping up its stay at the orbiting laboratory. Boeing and NASA teams saw Starliner touchdown at 6:49 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, at White Sands Space Harbor at the US Army’s White Sands Missile Range Facility in New Mexico.    More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - May 26)

STARLINER’S HATCH CLOSED, PREPS FOR WEDNESDAY DEPARTURE - NASA astronauts living aboard the International Space Station closed the hatch of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft at 3 p.m. EDT Tuesday, May 25. The uncrewed spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously undock from the space station to begin the journey home at 2:36 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 25. NASA and Boeing are targeting 6:49 p.m. for the landing and conclusion of Orbital Flight Test-2, wrapping up a six-day mission testing the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner system.   More
(Source: NASA - May 25)

MILITARY LOOKING FOR NEW WAYS TO ACQUIRE AND USE COMMERCIAL SATELLITE DATA - Over a two-day conference last week, U.S. military and intelligence officials were briefed on the capabilities of commercial spy satellites and how data from these satellites could be used in military operations. Defense and intelligence agencies are longtime customers of commercial imagery companies and their consumption of commercial imagery has increased during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But there is also an emerging demand for new types of data now being collected by commercial satellites, such as radar imagery, radio-frequency signals, maritime and aerial traffic data.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - May 24)

STARLINER LAUNCHES TO REMAIN ON ATLAS 5 - Boeing and United Launch Alliance say they remain committed to launching future CST-100 Starliner commercial crew missions on Atlas 5 rockets even after that vehicle is effectively retired for other missions. As with the Orbital Flight Test (OFT) mission in late 2019, an Atlas 5 launched Starliner on the OFT-2 mission May 19. Boeing has a contract with ULA to launch both the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission, the first Starliner mission to carry astronauts, and six operational or post-certification missions on Atlas 5 vehicles as well.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - May 24)

CHINA LAUNCHES THREE LEO COMMUNICATION SATELLITES AHEAD OF LAUNCH SURGE - China launched three payloads onboard a Chang Zheng 2C rocket today at 10:30 UTC and confirmed the success of the launch an hour later. For this flight, the additional Yuanzheng-1S third stage was used. The launch was conducted from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) and the rocket flew to a low Earth orbit (LEO). So far no details were released about the payloads, and only minimal information is out regarding the purpose of the three payloads.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFLight.com - May 22)

RUSSIA LAUNCHES BARS-M SURVEILLANCE SATELLITE - Just over three weeks after Russia launched the Kosmos 2555 spacecraft for the Russian military onboard an Angara 1.2 rocket, the country has now launched the Bars-M military surveillance satellite. The Soyuz 1.2a lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome and placed the payload into a Sun-synchronous orbit. Liftoff occurred at 08:03 UTC on May 19. This was the 5th military launch by Russia in the past few months, an amount not seen by the country for quite some time.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - May 22)

STARLINER DOCKS WITH ISS FOR THE FIRST TIME - Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station May 20, a little more than 24 hours after its launch. The spacecraft docked with the forward docking port on the Harmony module of the station at 8:28 p.m. Eastern. Controllers reported a hard docking securing the spacecraft to the station about 20 minutes later, although hatches separating the spacecraft from the station won’t open until around 11:45 a.m. Eastern May 21.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - May 21)

BOEING STARLINER PROCEEDING TOWARD STATION TODAY - Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner is proceeding toward the International Space Station on the NASA-Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2). Boeing and NASA met as an International Space Station Mission Management Team (IMMT) this afternoon to review the status of the flight test and approved a plan to proceed toward the final phase of rendezvous and docking, which remains scheduled at for 7:10 p.m. EDT. Docking broadcast coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.   More
(Source: NASA - May 21)

ATLAS 5 LAUNCHES STARLINER ON SECOND UNCREWED TEST FLIGHT - Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station on a critical, long-delayed uncrewed test flight of the commercial crew vehicle. An Atlas 5 N22 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:54 p.m. Eastern May 19. The Starliner spacecraft, formally designated Spacecraft 2 by Boeing, separated from the dual-engine Centaur upper stage 15 minutes after liftoff, performing a 40-second orbital insertion burn 16 minutes later to place the spacecraft into a stable orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - May 20)

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