An Earth observation satellite has provided unique footage of Boeing’s new astronaut taxi, the Starliner, in space.
Starliner arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on June 6, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the orbital laboratory on a validation voyage called Crew Flight Test (CFT).
The next day, Maxar Technologies’ WorldView-3 satellite captured a striking photo of the ISS and its new arrival, with the ISS looming large near the center of the frame.
World View 3, which launched in August 2014, typically observes Earth from 385 miles (620 kilometers) above the planet, but new photos show the spacecraft can also study objects in orbit.
“This type of imagery collection, known as Non-Earth Imagery (NEI), is a groundbreaking capability that enables Maxar to support critical space domain awareness missions for government and commercial customers,” Maxar said. Wednesday X Post (June 12th) Featured photos of the ISS-Starliner.
In the coming years, filming beyond Earth is likely to become an increasing priority for the U.S. government and other groups with big stakes in the last frontier.
The number of satellites in orbit has increased dramatically recently and is likely to continue to grow in the future, due in large part to the rise of mega-constellations such as SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network, which currently consists of the following satellites: Over 6,000 spacecraft in operationMonitoring an ever-growing constellation of satellites in orbit will become increasingly important, and increasingly challenging, for satellite operators.
The CFT will be Starliner’s first crewed mission, and the spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth by June 18. If the mission goes smoothly, the spacecraft will be qualified for NASA’s flight for long-duration astronaut missions to the ISS.
SpaceX has already accomplished this with its Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket, and Elon Musk’s company is currently in the midst of its eighth spaceflight to the ISS, known as Crew 8.