Space
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The manufacturer’s spacecraft, which has accumulated technical problems and delays, will attempt to reach the ISS, without passengers, this Thursday. If all goes well, it will be qualified to shuttle American astronauts to the International Space Station, like its competitor Crew Dragon from SpaceX.
This time it’s the right one. Promised sworn. Boeing claims to have resolved the problems that had nailed its space capsule to the ground for almost a year, and this time to be ready to return to space. The Starliner spacecraft rolled out of its hangar two weeks ago and was installed atop an Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Takeoff is scheduled for the night of Thursday to Friday, at 0:54 (Paris time). Starliner will cut through the sky to reach the ISS, dock there, and, if all goes well, it will then be officially qualified to transport astronauts and become a regular shuttle for the International Space Station. After a failed first test flight in 2019 and repeated delays, the pressure is maximum for Boeing.
Independence
The challenge is to strengthen the independence of the United States in their access to space, nothing less. Since the shutdown of the American space shuttle in 2011 and until 2020, Americans could only count on the help of the Russians to travel to the ISS. The astronauts had to travel to the star city of Baikonur to train in the piloting of a Soyuz spacecraft, and take off aboard this indestructible Soviet spacecraft. Nasa paid the cost of the ticket to the Russian space agency Roscomos… which has not been shy about driving up the prices over the years. From 20 million dollars in 2010, the place in Soyuz climbed to 81 million dollars at the end of the decade.
Meanwhile, …