cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/16379916

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/16378924

Sped up footage from Chang'e 6 lander descent

After years of delays, recent issues with a valve on the ULA Centaur upper stage and a helium leak on Boeing Starliner, it's finally time for another go at the first crewed flight of Starliner!

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-06-01, 16:25:40 | |

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| | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-06-01, 12:25:40 (EDT) | | Docking scheduled for (UTC) | | | Mission | Boeing Crewed Flight Test | | Launch site | SLC-41, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA | | Launch Vehicle | Atlas V N22 | | Starliner | SC3-2 (Calypso) | | Commander | Barry "Butch" Wilmore 🇺🇸| | Pilot | Sunita Williams 🇺🇸| | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and docking to the ISS |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

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| | NASA | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEi5boWupRk | ULA | | Boeing | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W-Xp4GkuyU | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gml290-pLQ | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxPahOMOTmw | NASASpaceflight | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwbf56JxpcA | Everyday Astronaut | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez3bQSz_rLM | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4hpr43mpho | The Space Devs |

Launch statistics

☑️ 1st crewed flight of Starliner, 3rd flight overall

☑️ 1st Atlas V launch this year, 100th overall

☑️ 3rd ULA launch this year, 161st overall

Mission Details 🚀

• NASA blog
• ULA mission page
• NextSpaceflight page

Hab One will be the first module in the Axiom Orbital Segment, and attach to the forward port of the ISS Harmony module. When the ISS reaches end-of-life, the plan is to have the Axiom Segment disconnect and become its own free-flying space station.

Elon Musk: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1796031244846645493

With extreme effort, Starship will eventually take reusability to ~100%. There are many tough issues to solve with this vehicle, but the biggest remaining problem is making a reusable orbital return heat shield, which has never been done before. The Shuttle’s heat shield required over 6 months of refurbishment by a large team, so was not reusable by any reasonable definition of the word.

This will take a few kicks at the can to solve and requires building an entirely new supply chain for low-cost, high-volume and yet high-reliability heat shield tiles, but it can be done.

Andy Lapsa: https://x.com/AndyLapsa/status/1796211187396612430

This is why we started from day 1 thinking hard about rapidly reusable heat shields. It’s metallic, ductile, and the surface temperature is tailorable and controllable well below material limits. It certainly hasn’t been to space (or back) yet, but to the best ability on earth we’ve tested it to the full heat load expected during reentry profiles.

For their upper stage, Stoke Space is planning to use an expander bleed cycle to actively cool the heat shield. It will be interesting to see how this approach compares to Starship's passive ceramic tiles.

Source: https://x.com/torybruno/status/1793305606511591869

Source: https://x.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1793387649710854533

Timelapse from NSF: https://x.com/ENNEPS/status/1796197197718982784

Full video from Spaceflight Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jHb08cdY6U

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15947756