The second orbital test flight of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft rolled out on June 5, carrying astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore on a test flight to the ISS. Had everything gone as planned, it would have been the final step on a long, bumpy road to getting the capsule qualified to carry a human team to and from the orbital outpost, along with SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
However, shortly after launch, Starliner’s Reaction Formula Thrusters (RCS), which govern the capsule’s orientation in space, experienced technical failures, and helium fuel was found to leak from the experimental spacecraft. Starliner was able to dock with the orbital outpost. However, the problems have prompted Wilmore and Williams to extend their eight-day stay aboard the ISS into an extended two-month stay, as NASA and Boeing employees try to get to the bottom of the breakdowns and determine if Starliner is compatible. to be transported to the couple’s home.
The NASA and Boeing groups continue to analyze knowledge from recent ground and spacecraft tests while comparing the #Starliner spacecraft’s propulsion formula to NASA’s Boeing manned flight test mission. More information: https://t. co/Zbom3pEcmo pic. twitter. com/vr3g65qR8l
Meanwhile, speculation has grown that NASA could ask SpaceX to prepare a Crew Dragon to bring the two men home, rather than relying on the wayward Boeing spacecraft. At a press conference today, NASA finally revealed that it had in fact taken concrete steps to modify said SpaceX capsule as an emergency option, although it stressed that it had not yet made a decision on a definitive plan of action.
“I don’t think we’re too far away from making that decision,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said at Thursday’s press conference. “We know that at some point we will have to bring Butch and Suni home. While they’re there, we have extra staff, we can do a lot more work, but there’s also more consumables, more supplies. So we have to maintain that balance and, at some point, we’ll have to bring those other people to stay and move back to a general team on the ISS. “
NASA’s SpaceX emergency solution requires the company to modify the Crew-9 Dragon that was scheduled to carry astronauts Nick Hague, Stephanie Wilson and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov to the ISS on Aug. 18. This project has now been postponed until Tuesday, September 24. and you will potentially see one of the 3 cosmic explorers unceremoniously excluded from the flight manifest.
#Crew9 Launch Update: NASA and @SpaceX are NET Tuesday, September 24 for the launch of the agency’s Crew-9 project to @Space_Station. Info: https://t. co/Or2GNmF4DQ pic. twitter. com/ gqskUylORH
The case would see the two remaining astronauts travel to the ISS and complete a service tour alongside Suni and Butch, before returning to Earth as a quartet aboard Crew-9 Dragon in 2025, as part of the station’s regular rotation crew. Whether or not that will happen is still at stake.
Uncertainty can be detrimental, especially in space, and as things stand, NASA still doesn’t know precisely why Starliner’s thrusters malfunctioned in the first place. Tests conducted at the agency’s facility in White Sands, New Mexico, revealed that the defect potentially centers on several Teflon seals in the propulsion system, which may have swelled to block the flow of propellant into the combustion chamber of the propellants.
Recent hot testing of the Starliner propulsion formula in orbit has demonstrated propellant functionality and tension at pre-flight levels, suggesting that the Teflon seals have retracted. In addition, the firm verified that the ship continues to maintain the helium margin necessary to force it to return to Earth on vacation. Despite these positive signs, NASA remains doubtful about the physics of these dysfunctions, and its scientists cannot prove that the disorders found in orbit are the same as those observed on the ground.
It’s this uncertainty that NASA is considering as the final decision approaches, which is expected to come in mid-August. If NASA decides to approve with the Drapassn, it would first have to undock the Starliner and move it away from the station to make room for the newcomer. This in itself may take some time, as the capsule’s software is lately set up for crewed use and would require an update of its configuration to operate autonomously.
“Our chances of an uncrewed Starliner returning have increased a bit based on how things have progressed over the last few weeks, and that’s why we’re looking further into this option to make sure we can take care of it,” Bowersox explained. Womb
The project was something of a public relations crisis for Boeing, a company whose reputation is already on fire following a series of investigations and lawsuits filed following alleged failures in aircraft production. A strange silver lining for Boeing is that questions about the Starliner’s fitness have highlighted the need for NASA to have multiple redundant spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts to and from the ISS.
It is not yet clear exactly how Starliner’s poor functionality will affect the capsule team’s certification campaign, but NASA remains publicly confident in its ability to fulfill its role, once the disruptions reported through the existing project are resolved.
“We want two delivery systems as a team, there may come a day in the long term when we ask Starliner to do something like this for us, and it’s a wonderful vehicle,” said Steve Stich, director of NASA’s advertising team. it has wonderful capabilities, and you know Boeing has done a great job of running it in conjunction with the advertising team, so I see a viable path ahead for Starliner in any case. “
For more clinical information, why not read about how scientists hope to save Earth’s declining biodiversity by locking it on the Moon, or learn about SpaceX’s plan to take the ISS out of orbit using a powered Dragon spacecraft?
Image credit: NASA.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video game news for IGN. He has over 8 years of experience covering state-of-the-art advancements in various clinical fields and surely has no time for his antics. Follow it on Twitter@BeardConGamer