Boeing Starliner Simulation Mission to ISS Wraps Up

This is a long way to get a certified spacecraft for carrying cargo and astronauts to and from ISS in orbit on the earth. NASA and Boeing have announced that they have completed the integrated mission dress training using a simulation for the Starliner Orbital-2 (OFT-2) flight test. Oft-2 will see the Starliner flying to the Space Station as part of the NASA commercial crew program.

Simulation mission is carried out mainly in the Boeing Avionics and Software Integration Lab (Asil) located in Houston, Texas. The latest simulation mission is a five-day end-to-end mission simulation known as Asil Mission Exercises, or AMR. The Boeing team spent several months preparing hardware and software for simulation mission, including running communication channels, mapping simulation sensor data, verifying flight procedures, and completing the process.

Chad SchafeFer Boeing, the commercial crew software certification manager, said that AMR was one of the many “examples of Boeing’s commitment to fly enough astronauts.” Schaeffer also noted that the Boeing and NASA team together and the software team worked very close to prepare for the Mission ofT-2. The preparation includes building stronger relationships between teams and working on improved processes for commercial operations.

During the simulation test mission, the team in the flight control room at the Johnson Space Center in Houston ordered a simulation using the actual flight procedure. Testing began 26 hours before it was launched, and continued through docking operations, space operations, 32 hours of previous power-up procedures from undocking, landing, and turning on the capsules down.

Astronaut Nasa Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Mike Fincke participated in the simulation mission and monitor events from inside the lab using a crew screen connected to the simulation. Boeing noted that AMR will be carried out before each flight in the future functions as an additional trust and integration test. It was recommended by the Independent Review Team Joint Joint NASA / Boeing after the Starliner’s first test flight.