page_title: RS-88
section_title: Boeing CST-100
hierarchical_section_title: RS-88 / Boeing CST-100
caption_attribution_description: English: Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner’s four launch abort engines and several orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters ignite in the company’s Pad Abort Test, pushing the spacecraft away from the test stand with a combined 160,000 pounds of thrust, from Launch Complex 32 on White Sands Missile Rangein New Mexico. The test, conducted Nov. 4, 2019, was designed to verify that each of Starliner’s systems will function not only separately, but in concert, to protect astronauts by carrying them safely away from the launch pad in the unlikely event of an emergency prior to liftoff. The Pad Abort Test is Boeing’s first test flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which is working to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil for the first time since 2011.
context_page_description: The RS-88 is a liquid-fueled rocket engine burning ethanol as fuel, and using liquid oxygen as the oxidizer. It was designed and built by Rocketdyne, originally for the NASA Bantam System Technology program.
  In 2003, it was designated by Lockheed for their pad abort demonstration vehicle. NASA tested the RS-88 in a series of 14 hot-fire tests, resulting in 55 seconds of successful engine operation in November and December 2003. The RS-88 engine proved to be capable of 50,000 lbf of thrust at sea level.
  A hypogolic derivative of the RS-88 has been selected for the CST-100 launch escape system. This version is capable of 39,700lbf of thrust and four are used in Starliner's abort system.
context_section_description: The launch escape system for Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft uses a lightweight, hypergolic derivative of the RS-88 called the Launch Abort Engine (LAE).
caption: The Launch Abort Engine fires during a pad abort test of the Starliner
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