After all, the Boeing Starliner may not have brought its first astronauts home.
NASA officials, in the absence of a Boeing representative, briefed reporters today (Aug. 7) on how troubleshooting the Starliner’s undocking and landing may be SpaceX’s next astronaut flight to the Space Station. International.
Starliner has faced many demanding situations since launching its first astronaut mission, and was added after five of its 28 jet control boosters (RCS) failed to ignite while docking with the ISS on June 6. Work on the topic is ongoing and, as NASA revealed (August 6), we will have to wait for the next launch to the ISS. Crew-9, SpaceX’s ninth operational flight to the ISS designed for 4 astronauts, will now launch on September 24 instead of August 18. In fact, NASA can only send two astronauts on Crew-9 and bring Starliner astronauts with both. The team will return around February 5, 202.
The Crew Flight Test (CFT), this Starliner mission, was unveiled on June 5 with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. They decided in large part because of their progression experience as former U. S. Navy test pilots. U. S.
The duo had intended to stay in space for about 10 days, but are now north of 60 degrees. NASA continues to emphasize that astronauts can leave the ISS in an emergency, but company officials now seem less confident that the astronauts will return home aboard Starliner. , as provided in the project plan.
“We’re in kind of a new scenario here, in the sense that we have options,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate and a former NASA astronaut, said at the briefing. team back to Starliner, for example. We may just take it back to some other vehicle. “
It is very possible that this vehicle is SpaceX. The sticking point is to better understand whether and to what extent Starliner’s thruster failures will cause it to undock and return to Earth. The descent toward our planet could simply overload the RCS system, some at NASA say. And not everyone still agrees on the obvious cause, which CFT engineers believe may simply be overheating in the “niche” shelters above the RCS propulsion units, which in turn causes loss of propellant insulation. .
Related: SpaceX’s Crew-9 astronaut launch delayed to Sept. 24 due to Boeing Starliner
In addition to the obvious loss of insulation, a reed valve on Starliner’s thrusters was “heated, extruded and retracted” in floor testing, Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Manager, said today.
Different members of NASA’s Program Control Board have other interpretations of the root cause of the thruster disruptions and the threat to astronauts. Stich framed the discussion as a question of physics, as well as a question of reliability, because the habit of the SCR formula, and any residual effects due to valve leakage or habit, are firmly quantified after all the tests.
Starliner can still undock from the ISS safely, he said, but it is not known how its thrusters will perform when it returns home. Learning more about why the RCS and shutter act this way, Stich said, “would give us more confidence to move forward and get Butch and Suni back in that vehicle. ”
He added that NASA called on more propulsion experts in other divisions, such as the company’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to see if they can stumble upon anything that Boeing and the company’s CFT engineers may have missed in testing. exhaustive on the ground. and in space.
If the program committee continues to disagree and no convincing knowledge is presented, the resolution on the justification for Starliner’s flight would rest with Bowersox, whose authority is delegated to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The final authority rests with Nelson himself.
“Ultimately, the administrator has a duty and has a very significant fear and duty regarding the final decision,” Bowersox said. Nelson notably participated in the area’s last round-trip flight 10 days before Challenger’s fateful launch in 1986 and has spoken unabashedly about the devastating effect it had on him.
Related: Boeing Starliner’s First Astronaut Flight: Live Updates
If Crew-9 were to launch as planned, the astronauts would be Commander Zena Cardman, pilot Nick Hague, project specialist Stephanie Wilson and project specialist Alexsandr Gorbunov. Cardman, Hague and Wilson work at NASA, and Gorbunov is a cosmonaut at the Russian firm Roscosmos.
It appears that NASA is still considering staffing decisions at the program level if Crew-9 is reduced to two more people instead of four. “We are not in a position to give percentages of team names for the contingency plan,” ISS program director Dana Weigel told Space. com. She also did not specify (when asked) the effects on the agreement with Roscosmos and other area agencies for Crew-9 or long-duration missions.
After another reporter asked what would happen to the two astronauts removed from Crew-9, Weigel said “specific details” were still being determined. “We’ll take a look at future manifestos and see what makes sense for blanket praise. ” of the team in the future,” added Weigel.
No matter who is on board, according to a project order issued by NASA, SpaceX’s crew nine could depart with two astronauts and two seats filled with mass simulators to account for empty seats. Crew nine would remain docked to the ISS for a general period of time. six-month project, with Williams and Wilmore returning early next year to the two remaining seats.
Weigel under pressure that the CFT astronauts are “fully trained” for a general rotation of the ISS, and this was planned two years ago, knowing that a flight progression could last months. NASA even has spacesuits on board for CFT astronauts. , should a need arise for extravehicular activity. The ISS also has a four-month supply of materials that CFT astronauts use for things like food and oxygen.
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Other effects are also occurring on the ISS calendar. Starliner will undock at some point, with or without a crew, to make way for Crew Nine to the ISS Harmony module. Crew 8 will be on board a little longer, as they are expected to depart about a week after crew nine arrives, that happens. SpaceX has also been tasked with delaying its 31st Cargo Dragon to the ISS no earlier than mid-October.
SpaceX and Boeing are the two suppliers to the NASA advertising group, tasked in 2014 with sending astronauts to the ISS after the space shuttle was retired in 2011. The Russian Soyuz spacecraft entered the launch hole of the projects the ISS until SpaceX successfully sent its first astronaut test project into space in 2020.
SpaceX, unlike Boeing, relied on its Cargo Dragon design when launching Crew Dragon. Starliner is a new style of spacecraft and had problems on two uncrewed test flights in 2019 and 2022. The first project was not successful on the ISS after a computer problem; The moment succeeded, though after its own propulsive disorders. The groups thought they had resolved those 2022 thruster disruptions before authorizing the CFT to launch in 2024.
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Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph. D. , has been editor of the Spaceflight Channel since 2022 and also covers diversity, education, and gaming. She worked as an editor for Space. com for 10 years before joining the organization full time. Elizabeth’s reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and the Office of the Vice President of the United States, an exclusive verbal exchange with aspiring local tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times to the International Space Station and helping five human beings. area flight launches. on two continents, flying parabolas, running in a space suit and participating in a simulated Mars project. Her most recent book, “Why Am I Taller?”, is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth has a Ph. D. and M. Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a BA in Journalism from Carleton University in Canada, and a BA in History from Athabasca University in Canada. Elizabeth has also been a post-secondary science and communications instructor at various facilities since 2015; Her experience includes creating and teaching an astronomy course at Algonquin University in Canada (also with Indigenous content) to over 1,000 students as of 2020. Elizabeth first became interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996. , and he still wants an astronaut. One day. Giant: https://qoto. org/@howellarea
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