NASA/BOEING MEDIA TELECON ON UPCOMING STARLINER OFT-2 TEST FLIGHT, May 3, 2022, virtual, 12:00 pm ET

Update, May 2, 2022:  NASA has changed the time to 12:00 pm ET.

Original Entry: Boeing and NASA will hold a media telecon on May 3, 2022 at 11:00 am ET to discuss the upcoming uncrewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner commercial crew vehicle, Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2)  The launch is currently scheduled for May 19.

The telecon will air on NASA Live.

Participants are:

• Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate
• Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston
• Dr. Michelle Parker, vice president and deputy general manager, Space and Launch, Boeing
• Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, CST-100 Starliner, Boeing

The first uncrewed test flight of Starliner (OFT) in December 2019 was only partially successful. Boeing decided to refly the uncrewed test flight (OFT-2) before putting a crew on board for the Crew Flight Test (CFT), both prerequisites to getting certified by NASA for operational missions ferrying crews to and from the International Space Station. Starliner is a competitor to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which is already operational.

The first attempt at OFT-2 in August 2021, had to be scrubbed, however, because 13 valves in the propulsion system failed to open.