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Boeing Starliner Installs NASA Docking System Cover On CST-100 Starliner Spacecraft

By  //  January 17, 2021

NASA & SPACE NEWS

The NDS cover is located under the crew module’s semispherical Ascent Cover during launch and is only visible during orbital operations after the Ascent Cover jettisons. (NASA image)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Boeing teams in the Starliner assembly facility at Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County recently installed and tested a new NASA Docking System cover on the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft that will fly the Orbital Flight Test mission in March.

The NASA Docking System, designed and built by Boeing, is a standardized mechanism that allows two spacecraft to connect safely with each other autonomously to create a short tunnel so crews can move between the two vehicles.

The new cover will provide additional protection for the automated docking system during atmospheric re-entry, where the capsule faces temperatures of about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit prior to landing at one of five potential locations in the western U.S.

The NDS cover is located under the crew module’s semispherical Ascent Cover during launch and is only visible during orbital operations after the Ascent Cover jettisons. (NASA image)

The NDS cover is located under the crew module’s semispherical Ascent Cover during launch and is only visible during orbital operations after the Ascent Cover jettisons.

It acts as a hatch on the top of the vehicle that will open for docking with the International Docking Adapters on the ISS and close after undocking.

The NDS cover was installed on the OFT-2 vehicle in December.

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