NASA will hold a preview of the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission to the International Space Station on Thursday, March 21, and hold press conferences at Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA and Boeing officials will discuss flight test preparation, goals and priorities at 10 a.m. ET on March 22, and mission managers will discuss the flight plan, schedule and details at 11:30 a.m. ET. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will answer questions and be available for one-on-one interviews at 14:00.

All three press conferences will be broadcast live on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV on multiple platforms, including social media. On the afternoon of March 21, media will have the opportunity to learn more about flight testing by visiting a Boeing Starliner mock-up, training in the Starliner simulator, and meeting members of the flight control teams that will support the first crewed flight. of the spacecraft.

The flight test, currently scheduled for early May due to the space station’s schedule, will carry Wilmore and Williams to the orbiting laboratory for a planned stay of up to two weeks. A United Launch Alliance rocket and Boeing Starliner spacecraft lift off from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This will be the last opportunity for media to speak with the astronauts before they head to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch.

International media wishing to attend in person or interview the astronauts remotely must request identification by contacting Johnson Newsroom at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail .nasa.gov by 5 p.m. on Monday, March 11. US media wishing to participate must send their identification information to the Johnson News Office by 18:00 on Monday, March 18. NASA’s Media Accreditation Policy is available online.

All media organizations wishing to participate in the press conference call must contact Johnson’s office by 9:45 a.m. on March 22. Those who want to ask questions on social media can use #AskNASA.

Thursday, March 21:

• 11:30 a.m. CDT (12:30 p.m. EDT) Media arrive at Johnson Space Center

Those attending the briefing included (all times are Eastern and subject to change depending on operations):

Friday, March 22:

10:00 Program overview Press conference

• NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
• Steve Stich, NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager
• Dana Weigel, NASA International Space Station deputy program manager
• Mark Nappi, Vice President and Manager, Boeing Starliner Program

11:30 Press conference on mission review

• Mike Lammers, Flight Director, Starliner Ascent, NASA
• Vincent Lacourt, Flight Manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program
• Ed Van Cize, Flight Director, Starliner Rendezvous, NASA

14:00 Team press conference

• Butch Wilmore, NASA astronaut, mission commander
• Suni Williams, NASA astronaut, pilot of the mission

U.S. Navy captain Wilmore is a veteran of two space flights and has spent 178 days in space. Selected as an astronaut in 2000, he served as a flight engineer on Expedition 41 from September to November 2014, then assumed command of Expedition 42 until returning to Earth in March 2015. During this mission, he spent 167 days in space and performed four spacewalks. In 2009, Wilmore served as a pilot aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis for STS-129. Born in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, Wilmore earned degrees from Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Williams, a retired Navy captain, is a veteran of two space station missions, Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33, and served as commander of Expedition 33. In 1998, he was selected as an astronaut by NASA and spent 322 days in space. It initially launches with the STS-116 crew on the Discovery spacecraft, then launches on the Soyuz spacecraft. Williams made seven spacewalks, totaling 50 hours and 40 minutes. Williams calls Needham, Massachusetts, his hometown and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987 and the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne in 1995.