On February 8, 2023 (the same as Eastern Time), before power-up and propellant filling operations, Boeing CST-100 Starliner manned spacecraft was transferred to the Hazardous Processing Area of Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Florida, and the launch plan was advanced in an orderly manner.

　　It is estimated that in the middle and late April, the Atlas 5”N22 carrier rocket carrying CFT CST-100 manned spaceship "Interstellar Flight" will be launched from CCSFS SLC-41 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the spacecraft will be sent to the International Space Station.

　　This launch is the first Crew Flight Test ,CFT) of the "Interstellar Flight" spacecraft, carrying two NASA test pilots, namely, the commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and the pilot Suni Williams. The whole mission will last about 8 days. After completing the test flight, the spacecraft will return to White Sands, New Mexico. After the astronauts’ successful test flight, NASA will begin the final certification of the "Interstellar Flight" spacecraft and system for the regular crew rotation of the International Space Station.

　　Boeing’s CST-100 "Interstellar Flight" started with the first space development bill passed in 2010, and was developed in cooperation with the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In 2014, NASA awarded the CCtCap contract to Boeing and SpaceX to safely and economically transport astronauts from the United States to the International Space Station. In addition to an unmanned test flight and a manned test flight, NASA also ordered six crew rotation missions of the International Space Station from Boeing, among which the first official manned flight "Starliner-1" will be confirmed after NASA completes the certification of "Starliner Flight", and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps will carry out this mission.

　　This launch will be the fourth manned launch in the world in 2023. Before that, Crew-6 Dragon manned spacecraft, Soyuz MS-23 manned spacecraft and Ax-1 Dragon manned spacecraft will be launched three times, and then China will launch Shenzhou 16 manned spacecraft in late May. Five manned launches were carried out in half a year, and the number of manned launches in the first half of 2023 exceeded four in the first half of 2022. The scale of manned exploration in the world is steadily expanding, and the road to manned space flight is becoming spacious.

　　Author: Dabai Gaoguo