NASA set to launch Boeing Starliner cargo spacecraft to ISS

NASA on Sunday announced the launch of its Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) second mission to the International Space Station on August 3.

OFT-2 is the second uncrewed flight for Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft as part of the US space agency's Commercial Crew Programme. The mission is targeted to launch at 1.20 p.m. EDT on August 3, NASA said in a statement.

Starliner will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. About 30 minutes after launch, Starliner will perform its orbital insertion burn to begin its daylong trip to the space station.

Scheduled to dock at the space station at 1.37 p.m. on August 4, the spacecraft will carry more than 400 pounds of NASA cargo and crew supplies to the space station. It will return to Earth with more than 550 pounds of cargo, including the reusable Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System tanks that provide breathable air to station crew members.

"OFT-2 will demonstrate the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner spacecraft and Atlas V rocket, from launch, to docking, to a return to Earth with a desert landing in the western United States. The uncrewed mission will provide valuable data toward NASA certifying Boeing's crew transportation system for regular flights to and from the space station," NASA said.

Boeing had signed a contract with NASA's Commercial Crew Programme to fly operational missions to and from the space station with Starliner in 2014. However, a series of setbacks have thus far prevented the Starliner from reaching the ISS.

Its debut uncrewed orbital flight mission in 2019 did not go exactly as planned, requiring it to make another try before putting astronauts on board for the crewed flight test.