{"id":230819,"date":"2024-09-08T20:15:49","date_gmt":"2024-09-08T20:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/08\/boeings-starliner-crew-mission-returns-to-earth-but-its-astronauts-are-still-in-space\/"},"modified":"2024-09-08T20:15:49","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T20:15:49","slug":"boeings-starliner-crew-mission-returns-to-earth-but-its-astronauts-are-still-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newhampshiredigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/08\/boeings-starliner-crew-mission-returns-to-earth-but-its-astronauts-are-still-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing\u2019s Starliner Crew Mission Returns to Earth, but Its Astronauts Are Still in Space"},"content":{"rendered":"


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September 7, 2024<\/p>\n

5 min read<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Starliner Spacecraft Safely Returns to Earth, sans Astronauts<\/p>\n

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Starliner\u2019s first crewed test flight has concluded with a successful touchdown\u2014and two astronauts still in orbit awaiting a different ride home<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

By Lee Billings<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Boeing\u2019s
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A view of Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft as it approached the International Space Station (ISS) in early June 2024. The spacecraft\u2019s crew, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are expected to stay on the ISS until February 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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After three agonizing months in space, an orbital mission that was originally intended to span scarcely more than a week has concluded with a parachute-slowed, airbag-cushioned autonomous landing shortly after midnight EDT at NASA\u2019s White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Starliner\u2014the Boeing-built spacecraft that began a troubled test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in June<\/a>\u2014is at last back on Earth. The same can\u2019t be said for its crew, however: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams remain onboard the ISS<\/a>. Last month officials at the space agency, citing safety concerns, opted to instead fly them home in February 2025<\/a> via a tried-and-true Dragon spacecraft<\/a> built and operated by Boeing\u2019s aerospace competitor SpaceX. Accommodating that change required that two other NASA astronauts, Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, be booted from SpaceX\u2019s next scheduled Dragon flight to the ISS: the Crew 9 mission, which is slated to launch later this month. This leaves two open seats for Wilmore and Williams when that Dragon returns to Earth next February.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great day to return Starliner, and it was great to have a successful undock, deorbit and landing of the vehicle,\u201d said Steve Stich, program manager for NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Program, during a postlanding press conference in which he summarized the spacecraft\u2019s \u201cdarn near-flawless\u201d performance. \u201cI am thrilled for our Boeing team, and all of our colleagues that worked this mission across the country on the NASA team and the Boeing team\u2026. It\u2019s a testament to those people that we got the vehicle back today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chasing the Dragon<\/b><\/h2>\n\n

On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n

If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n\n

The successful landing\u2014Starliner\u2019s third\u2014means Boeing\u2019s program has survived to fly another day. But much of what happens next is still up in the air.<\/p>\n

This test flight was meant to be the final stage in certifying Starliner\u2019s readiness for once-per-year astronaut-toting trips to the ISS. But the spacecraft\u2019s failure to return with its crew could trigger NASA to demand additional test flights before awarding that certification\u2014at Boeing\u2019s expense. When the space agency selected Boeing and SpaceX to develop crewed spacecraft in 2014, both companies signed \u201cfixed price\u201d contracts under which they, rather than NASA, would cover cost overruns. Further, payments from NASA would be contingent on each company hitting certain set milestones. The space agency allotted a total of $2.6 billion to SpaceX\u2014and $4.2 billion to Boeing. SpaceX flew its first crewed Dragon<\/a> to the ISS in May 2020 and has been fulfilling its contractual obligations to NASA ever since. In contrast, technical missteps and delays<\/a> have plagued Boeing\u2019s Starliner program, and quarterly filings<\/a> from late June revealed the company has lost $1.6 billion\u2014so far\u2014on the effort.<\/p>\n

At a press conference last month that announced the switch to Dragon as Wilmore and Williams\u2019s return vehicle, NASA administrator Bill Nelson offered \u201c100 percent\u201d certainty that Starliner would fly crews again and noted that he had recently spoken with Boeing\u2019s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg. \u201cHe expressed to me an intention that they will continue to work the problems once Starliner is back safely,\u201d Nelson said.<\/p>\n

It’s still unclear exactly how and when Starliner will return to crewed flight\u2014as well as what assurances other spacefaring nations that are partnered with NASA on the ISS might request before flying their own personnel on Boeing\u2019s vehicle. But this much is certain: time is running short for the company to make good on its obligations to NASA. The space agency intends to deorbit the ISS in 2031\u2014and recently announced<\/a> it had hired SpaceX to do the deed using a heavily modified Dragon.<\/p>\n

\"Parachutes<\/picture>
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An uncrewed Starliner spacecraft lands beneath billowing parachutes in White Sands, New Mexico at the conclusion of NASA\u2019s Orbital Flight Test on December 22, 2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Long Goodbye<\/b><\/h2>\n

Wilmore and Williams closed Starliner\u2019s hatch at 1:29 P.M. EDT on Thursday to prepare for the uncrewed departure. The vehicle\u2014nicknamed Calypso<\/i>\u2014undocked from the ISS at 6:04 P.M. EDT on Friday, leaving the astronauts behind as the ISS passed over central China. Moments after undocking, the spacecraft executed a \u201cbreakout burn,\u201d a dozen sequences of pulses from its auxiliary thrusters to maneuver up and away from the ISS to avoid bumping into the orbital habitat. As Calypso<\/i> shrank to a dot barely visible through the ISS\u2019s viewports, Williams radioed a simple, almost-wistful declaration to flight controllers: \u201cShe\u2019s on her way home.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the next few hours the spacecraft underwent a series of diagnostic tests as it drifted to a distance of 90 kilometers from the ISS. Then, at 11:17 P.M. EDT Calypso<\/i> began its \u201cdeorbit burn,\u201d using auxiliary thrusters to orient itself as beefier main thrusters fired to send it plunging through our planet\u2019s atmosphere. During that descent, another burst of firings from auxiliary thrusters ensured that Calypso<\/i>\u2019s empty crew module separated from the service module, which burned up at high altitude as planned.<\/p>\n

The service module\u2019s fiery end, which was necessary to expose a protective heatshield for Starliner\u2019s homecoming, has been a fundamental stumbling block for troubleshooting the spacecraft\u2019s most concerning glitches. This disposable module contains 28 auxiliary thrusters, five of which failed during Starliner\u2019s approach and rendezvous with the ISS on June 6. It\u2019s also where Starliner had repeatedly sprung multiple small leaks of helium, an inert gas used to push propellant through thrusters. But with the faulty hardware destined for lofty destruction rather than retrieval and study, the only option had been to analyze it from afar, gathering as much data as possible in hopes of finding causes\u2014and remedies\u2014before the service module incinerated in Earth\u2019s skies.<\/p>\n

In the Doghouse<\/b><\/h2>\n

From those remote investigations, as well as ground-based testing of identical thrusters, NASA and Boeing engineers traced the five service module thrusters\u2019 failure to overheating during their operation. The service module\u2019s auxiliary thrusters are mounted in four propulsion pods called \u201cdoghouses,\u201d which investigators determined retain more heat than expected as the thrusters fire, exacerbating the problem. The overheating likely caused Teflon seals to swell and constrict the flow of propellant, ultimately leading to the failures. In worst-case scenarios, such malfunctions could result in disasters such as Starliner colliding with and breaching the ISS or tumbling to disintegrate in a fireball during atmospheric reentry.<\/p>\n

Although the engineers had found the likely cause for the thruster issues, lingering uncertainties remained. For example, four of Starliner\u2019s five failed thrusters had subsequently recovered\u2014but no one could fully explain how. In discussions with NASA, Boeing officials nonetheless argued that it was safe to fly the two astronauts home on the spacecraft\u2014a key objective that, if left unfulfilled, would probably require yet another budget-busting future crewed test flight. But with no way to thoroughly examine the thrusters on-orbit to ensure their performance, NASA ultimately deemed it safer to send Starliner back without Wilmore and Williams.<\/p>\n

During the final meeting on the matter, there was \u201csome tension in the room,\u201d Stich acknowledged in a predeparture press conference on Wednesday. \u201cBoeing believed in the model that they had created that tried to predict thruster degradation for the rest of the flight\u2026. The NASA team looked at the model and saw some limitations, and it really had to do with \u2018Do we have confidence in the thrusters\u2014and how much we could predict their degradation\u2014from undock to the deorbit burn?\u2019 And [we] could not get comfortable with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, Stich maintained during Wednesday\u2019s press conference that \u201cwe have confidence in the vehicle…. We\u2019ve had two good [uncrewed] landings with Starliner so far, and we\u2019re expecting another one Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this nearly flawless (but not exactly triumphant) reentry and touchdown now on the books, all expectations are for Boeing to redouble its efforts to recover from its spaceflight setbacks and restore Starliner\u2019s tarnished reputation. Whether NASA\u2014or anyone else\u2014should still be expected to have confidence in those efforts, however, is another matter entirely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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