There will be a delay of NASA’s returning astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, due to numerous mechanical issues of the Boeing Starliner and, stressing the safety of the astronauts, necessitates absolutely successful repairs.
NASA announced that “Starliner will conclude its first human mission to the International Space Station (ISS) no earlier than June 26, nearly three weeks after it launched. Landing that day is scheduled to occur at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico at 4:51 a.m. EDT (0851 GMT).”
Issues began as soon as the vehicle was en route to ISS to include helium leaks and thrusters that abruptly stopped working raising great concern regarding the safety of the return mission.
Despite extending their mission more than twice the original timeline, the astronauts are in good spirits.
Some reports say that NASA is asking SpaceX owner, Elon Musk, for help in returning the astronauts safely to Earth.
The latest delay was announced Tuesday when NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said Starliner’s new target return is no earlier than 10:10 p.m. ET on June 25.
“We want to give our teams a little bit more time to look at the data and make sure we will be ready to come home,” Stich said.
“They’ve been very positive about the whole thing,” Stich said. “They love Starliner. They love being in the vehicle. They love being on the ISS. I think, you know, if you ask Butch and Suni, they might want to stay for a long period.”
Stich said NASA and Boeing teams took this past weekend off because they had been working hard on the Starliner issues and needed a break.
“What’s really complicated is, you know, we’re going through all the data from this flight, but comparing it to OFT-2 and also looking forward to the remainder of the flight and running simulations,” Sitch said, referring to the second orbital flight test and Starliner’s first visit to the ISS without crew in 2022.
Over the weekend, teams completed a hot fire of the Starliner spacecraft’s thrusters with the vehicle docked at the ISS to troubleshoot the issues encountered during docking when five thrusters failed.
Speaking on a recent teleconference, Steve Stitch, Manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said the teams have been taking the extra time to understand the service module and other areas pertaining to the helium leaks.
Besides having five thruster fails, helium leaks have proven to be a major issue to overcome before the Starliner launch.
Stitch said, “We know we have to address the helium leaks. We’re not going to fly another mission like this with helium leaks. On Saturday, we isolated the helium manifolds and looked at those leaks.”
He also confirmed that Starliner needs seven hours of helium for the return trip. The team said that Starliner has enough helium to support 70 hours, but the focus still remains of the heliun issues.
Stitch added, “We’re also doing some seal testing on the ground at the Marshall Space Flight Center. We’re purposely damaging a seal, cutting a cutting the seal, and putting it in a simulated flange, and looking at leak rates.”
“We’re also able to take that simulated flange and heat that flange up and look at leak rates for that. We’re spending some time doing that.”
Stich said the best place to test these issues is in orbit because they can replicate the exact thermal conditions on Starliner unlike simulations on Earth. The thruster issue is limited to the spacecraft’s service module, which does not return to Earth with the crew module.
NASA said on Tuesday that the helium leak has subsided since it was connected with the ISS but one of the five steering thrusters that were having issues still inoperable.
The history of test flights were also plagued with issues. Its first unmanned flight in 2019 resulted in failure after it misfired in orbit as the result of a software glitch. Its second test flight was scheduled for 2021 but due to thruster issues was delayed until 2022. The flight was basically successful, however the ship’s parachute had to be resigned after it was revealed that the electrical tape on its lines was flammable.
The trip requires the Starliner to pierce Earth’s thick atmosphere while traveling more than 22 times the speed of sound that, at roughly 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, bakes the spacecraft’s exterior.
When it returns to Earth, Starliner will face two big milestones that require the thrusters to orient the vehicle for landing. Teams are working to understand how the thrusters will perform during the deorbit burn.
Then, because Boeing believes that a capsule returning to Earth rather that the ocean is easier to recover and refurbish, will make this the first U.S.-made capsule to parachute to land rather than an ocean splashdown. These are redesigned Starliner parachutes tested in January to safely slow the capsule down before it reaches Earth.
NASA’s Statement —
Teams from NASA and Boeing now are targeting no earlier than 10:10 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 25, for the undocking of the Starliner spacecraft from the International Space Station. For the primary undocking opportunity, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the first crew to fly aboard Starliner, would land about 4:51 a.m. on Wednesday, June 26, at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
Mission teams supporting NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test continue to review Starliner’s data from the completed test objectives.
During a media teleconference on Tuesday, Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, discussed the flight test and upcoming return plans. Stich was joined by Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s International Space Station Program; Mike Lammers, flight director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston; and Mark Nappi, vice president and manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program. Listen to a full replay of the teleconference.
Following undocking and the deorbit burn, Starliner will descend under parachutes to land in the desert grounds of White Sands. Airbags attached to the bottom of Starliner will soften the spacecraft’s touchdown. The landing will mark the first time an American capsule has touched down on land with astronauts aboard. A team of NASA and Boeing specialists will retrieve the crew soon after landing.
Wilmore and Williams docked the Starliner spacecraft to the space station’s forward port on June 6 and have been testing spacecraft systems and performing tasks aboard the orbiting laboratory.
Get the latest mission updates by following the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook.
Boeing’s statement —
Teams from NASA and Boeing now are targeting no earlier than 10:10 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 25, for the undocking of the Starliner spacecraft from the International Space Station. For the primary undocking opportunity, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the first crew to fly aboard Starliner, would land about 4:51 a.m. on Wednesday, June 26, at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
Mission teams supporting NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test continue to review Starliner’s data from the completed test objectives.
During a media teleconference on Tuesday, Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, discussed the flight test and upcoming return plans. Stich was joined by Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s International Space Station Program; Mike Lammers, flight director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston; and Mark Nappi, vice president and manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program. Listen to a full replay of the teleconference.
Following undocking and the deorbit burn, Starliner will descend under parachutes to land in the desert grounds of White Sands. Airbags attached to the bottom of Starliner will soften the spacecraft’s touchdown. The landing will mark the first time an American capsule has touched down on land with astronauts aboard. A team of NASA and Boeing specialists will retrieve the crew soon after landing.
Wilmore and Williams docked the Starliner spacecraft to the space station’s forward port on June 6 and have been testing spacecraft systems and performing tasks aboard the orbiting laboratory.