NASA, Mission Partners to Discuss Starliner Crew Flight Test Progress

As NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) continue to evaluate a path toward launching the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, they will host a joint media teleconference at 11 a.m. EDT Friday, May 24.

The agency is working toward a launch at 12:25 p.m., Saturday, June 1, for the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Other launch opportunities are available on Sunday, June 2, Wednesday, June 5, and Thursday, June 6.

Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website at:

https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv/

Participants in the briefing include:

• NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free
• Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate
• Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
• Dana Weigel, manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program
• Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, Commercial Crew Program, Boeing
• Gary Wentz, vice president, Government and Commercial Programs, ULA

Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the newsroom at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no later than 10 a.m., Friday, May 24, at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.

Teams continue to assess Starliner’s performance and redundancy after discovering a small but stable helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module. The agency announced May 22 that as part of this work, and unrelated to the current leak, NASA and Boeing are completing a follow-on propulsion system assessment to understand potential helium system impacts on some Starliner return scenarios. NASA also will conduct a Delta-Agency Flight Test Readiness Review closer to launch to evaluate the work performed since the last crew flight test launch attempt on May 6.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will be the first to launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and ULA’s Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Following launch, Starliner will dock to the space station before returning to Earth about a week later for a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States.
Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

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Jimi Russell / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
james.j.russell@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov

Steven Siceloff / Danielle Sempsrott / Stephanie Plucinsky
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-867-2468
steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov / danielle.c.sempsrott@nasa.gov / stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov

Leah Cheshier / Anna Schneider
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
leah.d.cheshier@nasa.gov / anna.c.schneider@nasa.gov