About 1/2 hour to launch of CST-100 Starliner Orbital Flight Test 2. If successful, Starliner will be certified for human spaceflight and NASA will have two manned options, Starliner and SpaceX’s Dragon.
This launch is going from SLC-41 at Canaveral Space Force Station, which has been modified to accommodate both manned and unmanned rockets, similar to SpaceX’s LC-39a at the Kennedy Space Center.
Well, got through the Atlas phase, Centaur currently burning.
Successful Centaur phase and successful Starliner separation.
The last event of the launch phase of flight will be Starliner’s orbital insertion burn, in about 15 minutes.
How much of that is landing back on Earth for reuse?
The Starliner capsule.
United Launch Alliance hasn’t figured out how to reuse a booster.
Garbage.
Good orbital insertion burn.
That completes the launch phase of this mission.
Still have to complete the orbital phase, which includes docking and undocking from the ISS, and finally deorbit and landing in the coming days.
Perhaps ULA should hire Elon Musk as a consultant.
They shouldn’t be getting any contracts to throw garbage around in the skies.
I would note that ULA’s upcoming Vulcan rocket will have partial reusability. The engines will be jettisoned and reused.
But they are going to have to seriously go about the business of being able to land their booster, if they are going to be able to economically compete against SpaceX in the long term.
Being able to reuse their boosters gives SpaceX a huge economic advantage.
