Une fusée Atlas V de United Launch Alliance, avec à son bord le vaisseau spatial CST-100 Starliner de Boeing, est éclairée par des projecteurs sur la rampe de lancement du complexe de lancement spatial 41, avant le lancement de la mission Orbital Flight Test-2, mercredi 18 mai 2022, à la station spatiale de Cap Canaveral, en Floride. Crédit : NASA/Joel Kowsky
Le compte à rebours de la mission Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) de Boeing est lancé à 18 h 54 HAE aujourd’hui (19 mai 2022) pour un voyage de 24 heures vers la Station spatiale internationale (ISS). L’équipage d’Expedition 67 se concentre principalement sur la recherche humaine et les opérations de fret tout en se préparant à l’arrivée de la mission OFT-2 vendredi.
Le Starliner sera lancé sans équipage à bord de la fusée Atlas-V de United Launch Alliance depuis la station spatiale de Cap Canaveral en Floride. Il s’amarrera automatiquement au port avant du module Harmony à 19 h 10 HAE vendredi, où il restera pour environ cinq jours d’opérations de fret et de test. ;” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{” attribute=””>NASA TV begins live launch coverage on the NASA app and its website at 6 p.m. today.
On Wednesday, flight controllers notified the space station crew of the possibility of a close pass by orbital debris late Thursday, May 19 and the station needing to execute a debris avoidance maneuver. Additional tracking data received overnight shows there is no longer concern for a close pass and no avoidance maneuver is required.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen at sunset on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission, Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 will be Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test and will dock to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The mission, currently targeted for launch at 6:54 p.m. ET on May 19, will serve as an end-to-end test of the system’s capabilities. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren spent Thursday afternoon setting up hardware and software that will help monitor the arrival of Boeing’s Starliner crew ship on the OFT-2 mission. Earlier, he conducted a pair of tests measuring his cognition and hearing levels to understand microgravity’s long-term effects on humans.
NASA astronauts Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins joined ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti conducting cargo operations inside the Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter. The commercial cargo craft arrived at the station on February 21 delivering 8,300 pounds of experiments and hardware. Cygnus will depart the station in mid-June loaded with trash and discarded gear for a fiery, but safe destruction above the south Pacific Ocean.
Hines and Watkins started the day collecting and stowing their blood samples for later analysis. Hines later serviced a variety of life support and research hardware. Watkins monitored her glucose level to understand the cardiovascular risk of living and working in space. Cristoforetti collected air samples to demonstrate analyzing trace atmospheric contaminants using the ANITA-2 (Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air-2) device.
Station Commander Oleg Artemyev packed the docked ISS Progress 79 crew ship with obsolete gear and checked its systems ahead of its departure in early June. Roscosmos Flight Engineers Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov worked on Russian life support gear and panel inspections inside the Zvezda service module.
