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The US Space Force has decided to delay the planned launch in late February of two military satellites aboard a ULA Atlas 5 rocket to “assess the readiness” of one of the payloads, giving officials a window to advance take-off of a Boeing unmanned test flight. Starliner crew capsule no earlier than March 25.
The Space Test Program-3, or STP-3, military mission was previously scheduled to launch on an Atlas 5 rocket on February 26 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force station. The STP-3 mission will deliver two military spacecraft to a geosynchronous orbit more than 20,000 miles above the equator.
A spokesperson for the Space and Missile Systems Center said the launch of the STP-3 had been delayed to “assess the readiness” of one of the military satellites, named STPSat6, and “ensure the success of the mission of the main payload ”.
STPSat 6 hosts several payloads and experiments, including the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System-3 payload, designed to detect nuclear detonations from orbit. NASA’s Laser Communication Relay Demonstration Experiment and several other payloads also fly on the STPSat 6 spacecraft.
A smaller satellite named LPDE 1 will go into orbit with STPSat 6. The LPDE 1 spacecraft is designed to accommodate experimental payloads and small satellites, which could be deployed from the parent satellite in orbit.
The STP-3 mission is also an important mission for ULA, as it will be the first launch of Atlas 5 with a payload fairing built in the United States. The 5.4 meter diameter (17.7 feet) fairing is the same size as the payload fairings that flew on previous Atlas 5 flights, but these were built by RUAG Space in Switzerland.
But the new fairings are being built by RUAG technicians at ULA’s rocket factory in Decatur, Alabama, using updated manufacturing techniques. The same fairing design is intended to fly on ULA’s next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket.
The Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center said the STP-3 mission does not have a new target launch date.
With the STP-3 mission out of the way, ULA’s first launch in 2021 will carry Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft into orbit on a test flight to the International Space Station.
The unmanned demonstration mission, named Orbital Flight Test-2, is a repeat of Boeing’s OFT-1 test flight in December 2019. Software issues on the OFT-1 mission prevented the Starliner spacecraft from docking at the space station, forcing an premature landing under parachutes at White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico.
Boeing said earlier this month that engineers had completed the “requalification” of the Starliner software code. The software will undergo an end-to-end test next month to verify its functionality throughout a simulated Starliner flight, from launch to dock, and from undock to landing.
The Starliner spacecraft is one of two new crew pods designed to transport astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule flew with astronauts for the first time last May, but Boeing’s software glitches have delayed the Starliner program by more than a year.
NASA has contracted with Boeing and SpaceX to develop the new crew capsules, ending the United States’ dependence on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft for astronaut transport services.
The OFT-2 mission was previously scheduled to take off on March 29, but NASA and Boeing officials postponed the launch date to March 25 at the earliest after the STP-3’s launch was delayed.
“The target launch date is made possible by an opening to the Eastern Range, the availability of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 6 rocket, continued advancements in hardware and software, and an opportunity to dock the International Space Station.” NASA said in a statement.
“Boeing recently mated the spacecraft’s reusable crew module onto its all-new service module inside the Starliner production facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida,” said NASA. “The teams are working to complete the equipment inside the vehicle before loading the cargo and performing the final checks of the spacecraft.”
Assuming the week-long OFT-2 test flight goes well, Boeing hopes to launch the Starliner’s first crew flight test with a crew of three as early as mid-2021. The three astronauts will dock at the space station, where they are expected to spend one to two weeks before returning to Earth.
After the flight crew test, NASA will certify the Starliner to perform operational crew rotation missions to the space station. These flights will carry four astronauts and last up to seven months.
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