NASA’s key internal review of its Boeing Crew Flight Test mission, which will be even more critical now that two astronauts have been aboard the International Space Station since June, and is set for Saturday, 24 August. It will be followed by a news conference at 1 p.m EDT on Saturday from Johnson Space Center in Houston.

In the wake of the harrowing event, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will lead a review of the state of the mission, technical data reviews, and preparations for undocking and return to Earth, including an official certification of the return phase flight rationale.

The Boeing Crew Flight Test on June 5th was the first crewed mission for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station, and the ‘next step’ on NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, an initiative to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS using a fleet of privately built space capsules.

Although the mission has succeeded in many ways, the relatively long duration of the spacecraft’s stay at the ISS, and the potential side-effects of the stay, may be causing worries about the envisioned duration of future trips and doubts about the safety of flights. NASA would have a strong interest in reassuring the population that the astronauts are well.

The news conference will allow space agency leadership to brief the public on progress to date and how the crew will return to Earth. The mission is a major milestone in the development of commercial spaceflight capability, and NASA leadership is committed to the mission’s success with the safety of its astronauts as the highest priority.

The conference will be available to the public on a number of channels: NASA+, at the agency’s website, on NASA Television and the NASA app for mobile devices, and on YouTube.

©️ The Rocky Mountain Dispatch LLC. 2024