CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Completing a special delivery on the Space Coast Wednesday, crews rolled out a new United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket booster assigned to an upcoming mission with astronauts.
The booster arrived at the Cape after a two-week excursion from an Alabama factory.
A truck transported the 100-foot long booster from Port Canaveral to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station several months ahead of its historic mission, Boeing's Starliner flying three of NASA's commercial crew astronauts to the International Space Station.
Crews at @PortCanaveral move @ulalaunch #AtlasV months ahead of anticipated launch of astronauts aboard the @BoeingSpace #Starliner. This is the first look on the Space Coast of a rocket slated for an astronaut launch since Shuttle @news6wkmg @PortCanaveral @45thSpaceWing @Boeing pic.twitter.com/Mdj8QdQc0y
— James Sparvero (@News6James) June 5, 2019
Just like in March, when SpaceX successfully completed an uncrewed test flight of its human spaceship, ULA and Boeing will have to start with uncrewed missions before astronauts can fly.
"This is just a big deal, that a booster that will be flying crew is back on the Space Coast," Josh Barrett, with Boeing, said. "This sort of stuff did not happen since the Space Shuttle program, so we're all just excited to see hardware meant for flying humans come back to Florida," Barrett said.
Since the SpaceX Crew Dragon was destroyed in a testing accident in April, the race back to space between private American companies could be a lot tighter.
"It would be great to be first but our main goal is to do it safely and do it reliably," Barrett said. "We chose the Atlas V because of that reliability."
Boeing said the Atlas V has flown over 75 missions successfully.
"And when you're talking about putting such a precious cargo like crew on board, you want a safe, reliable rocket with a proven history," Barrett said.
The Starliner test flight is scheduled for August, with the launch with astronauts expected before the end of the year.