"Are You a CEO, Director, or Founder interested in a Feature Interview?"
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will detach from the ISS at 6:04 p.m. Eastern Time on September 6th. Landed safely and peacefully 12:01 a.m., September 7, at White Sands Spaceport, New Mexico. The capsule, called Calypso, had no crew on board, even though astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were on board and bound for the ISS. NASA decided in late August that for safety reasons, the astronauts would return in February on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. Wilmore and Williams only supported the capsule’s return and watched coverage of the re-entry and landing. “You guys are OK. We’re supporting you. You guys are OK. Bring her back to Earth,” Williams said. I told the ground controller.
The astronauts flew as part of Starliner’s first crewed flight to prove it is ready to regularly transport humans to the ISS alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. They were scheduled to stay in the orbital laboratory for eight days when helium began leaking from the spacecraft’s service module. Some of the module’s thrusters had also failed. Starliner was forced to shut down due to pressure issues with its fuel tanks and Pushing the propellant That extends to the thrusters that steer the spacecraft. For the past three months, engineers on the ground have been testing the Starliner with the help of astronauts, but NASA ultimately decided to send the Starliner home unmanned because it wasn’t confident in the thrusters’ performance.
Boeing was not prominent at the press conference following the Starliner landing, and three NASA officials spoke about the landing. Asked why Boeing was absent and whether the company’s relationship with NASA had been affected by the Starliner issues, the representative said Boeing had deferred to NASA as its representative for the mission. All three said they had spoken with Boeing managers and that the company was committed to working with NASA. Steve Stich, commercial crew program manager at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, also said everyone was pleased with the landing, but added that there was still a feeling that they would have liked the astronauts to return aboard Calypso as planned.
Stich, Joel Montalbano (Associate Administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate), and Dana Weigel (NASA’s International Space Station Administrator) praised the successful docking and “bullseye landing” of Starliner. They said they learned a lot from the mission, which apparently accomplished 85-90% of its objectives, and stressed that it’s important to remember that when it comes to test flights, things don’t always go according to plan.
It will take about two weeks to return Calypso to NASA’s base, and about another week after that to get all the data from the capsule. NASA and Boeing plan to analyze the data collected throughout the system while the spacecraft is in orbit, through undocking, re-entry and landing. They will then use that information to help design improvements to the spacecraft.
Unfortunately, we won’t be able to inspect the thrusters that failed during the flight to the ISS, nor the “doghouse” that housed the spacecraft’s propellant system, where helium leaked. NASA had always planned to discard the service module containing these elements upon atmospheric re-entry, but it now lies on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. NASA has previously said the problem arose when the thrusters heated up more than expected during the flight, loosening a seal on the container and allowing helium to leak. In the case of the thrusters, it appears that the heat caused the seal to bulge, restricting the flow of propellant and leading to the shutdown.
Stich said these problems are not insurmountable, but they will take time to resolve. It is also not known at this time whether the next Starliner flight will have a crew on board. Currently, NASA is preparing for other missions. By the end of September, SpaceX’s Crew 8 mission vehicle is scheduled to undock and return to Earth, and SpaceX’s Crew 9 mission is also scheduled to launch. Crew 9 will fly with two astronauts instead of four, with Wilmore and Williams making the return flight in February.
"Elevate Your Brand with an Exclusive Feature Interview!"