Eric Berger
NASA is delaying the return of the Starliner spacecraft four days from orbit for … reasons. 6/14/24, 8:57 AM
https://x.com/sciguyspace/status/1801599731589910707 "We are continuing to understand the capabilities of Starliner to prepare for the long-term goal of having it perform a six-month docked mission at the space station," said Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. "The crew will perform additional hatch operations to better understand its handling, repeat some 'safe haven' testing and assess piloting using the forward window.”
Starliner CFT: Plans are in place to hot-fire 7 of the Starliner's 8 aft-facing thrusters (1 failed jet remains off line) while the capsule is still docked to the station "to evaluate thruster performance for the remainder of the mission" and to assess "how the spacecraft will perform during future operational missions after being docked to the space station for 6 months;" NASA also says the crew will carry out additional hatch operations "to better understand its handling, repeat some ‘safe haven’ testing and assess piloting using the forward window.”
6/14/24, 8:55 AM
https://x.com/cbs_spacenews/status/1801599292181713193NASA plans to hold a news briefing to discuss the Starliner's flight status, weather, etc., at 12pm EDT (1400 UTC) on June 18 Boeing and NASA delay Starliner astronaut return to June 22, nearly doubling mission length to test spacecraft … Before the launch, a single leak in Calypso’s helium propulsion system was identified. The leak was deemed to be stable and not a threat to the capsule’s safety, so the launch moved forward and was successful in delivering Starliner to the ISS.
However, since docking with the ISS, the spacecraft has sprung four additional helium leaks. NASA earlier this week wrote that Calypso “has plenty of margin to support the return trip” based on the current rate of the five leaks, with 10 times the needed capacity of helium in its tanks.
The agency also noted that Starliner would “repeat some ‘safe haven’ testing,” but did not explain why that was necessary. A safe haven test is when astronauts on the ISS use a spacecraft for shelter during an emergency. NASA said “the spacecraft remains cleared for crew emergency return scenarios within the flight rules,” referencing the possible scenario of an unexpected evacuation of the astronauts off the ISS. …
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/14/boeing-and-nasa-delay-starliner-astronaut-return-to-june-22.html “and checking the cabin air temperature…”. Let me guess: With additional crew members aboard Starliner during the safe haven exercise, the cabin overheated. Again.
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Boeing’s Starliner has a fifth helium leak, which NASA disclosed in a blog post and identified after the spacecraft docked with the ISS. But the agency said engineers’ evaluation found there is “plenty of margin” in the spacecraft’s helium supply based on current leak rates. – NASA
NASA, Boeing Progress on Testing Starliner with Crew at Space Station June 10, 2024
https://blogs.nasa.gov/boeing-crew-flight-test/2024/06/10/nasa-boeing-progress-on-testing-starliner-with-crew-at-space-station/Calypso is now set to land at 6:26am EDT (10:26 UTC) on June 22 in the southwest US desert====
Today, June 14, is Flag Day in the US. So this is a great time to remember the U.S.A. flag that flew up to the ISS on the first Space Shuttle flight, returned to Earth on the same flight, then returned to the ISS on the Space Shuttle’s last flight, to wait for years until the next American spacecraft to launch astronauts from American soil.
Flag Day – One Small Flag’s Incredible Journey https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/flag-day-one-small-flags-incredible-journey/ This article is for students grades 5-8. But has some good photos.
For a while, it was uncertain which spacecraft would fly crew to the ISS first, Boeing Starliner or SpaceX Dragon. But SpaceX “captured the flag” in May 2020 with its crewed Dragon Demo-2 flight. (Doug Hurley flew on the last shuttle mission, as well as Demo-2!) Because Starliner was delayed, even though the SpaceX flight had been originally contracted as only a 14-day test, astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken trained for additional tasks and EVAs that NASA considered urgent, and the Dragon crew completed an extended mission of 62 days.
For Starliner, NASA had originally planned a months-long crew test flight, figuring Boeing would easily finish their spacecraft and that newcomer SpaceX would likely stumble. Indeed, both companies had setbacks, (a Dragon exploded during propellant testing, due to a titanium valve problem unknown to the industry at the time) but while SpaceX’s Demo-1 uncrewed flight to the ISS in early 2019 had gone well, Starliner’s uncrewed Orbital Test Flight (#1) in December 2019 was an embarrassing near-catastrophe because the spacecraft’s Mission Elapsed Timer was off by
11 hours. In January 2020, SpaceX performed an amazing in-flight abort test with Falcon 9 and Dragon* (a test Boeing chose to not do), and then launched Bob & Doug in May 2020 for the the win.
* Dragon’s In-Flight Abort Test, Jan 19, 2020
Just after launch, at the point of Maximum Dynamic Pressure on the vehicle (the toughest time for an abort to happen), Dragon’s software had been configured to command the Falcon 9 to abort and release the Dragon. The rocket quickly becomes aerodynamically unstable and explodes, but the Dragon is already safely away. Great views from on-board Dragon as the parachutes are deployed for splashdown.
NASA short version:
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mu5Ydz34oVc&feature=youtu.be 10 min
NASA long version (more explanation):
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ARIZnaMXTEU&feature=youtu.be 31 min
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And for chuckles, here’s Boeing's Starliner uncrewed OFT-1 Launch toward the International Space Station from Dec 20, 2019
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PIDytLL734A&feature=youtu.be 2 hours.
Launch is about 1h4min into the video.
Spacecraft separation 1h19m. Which is where things start to go sideways (literally). The Orbital Insertion Burn is supposed to happen 15 min later.
At 1h33m you can see Starliner’s attitude thrusters firing like crazy on the left side of the big display in the control room, when they show it. Starliner is pointing the wrong way…
⬇️ At 1h43m I took the screen shot below of a rather upset Flight Dynamics Officer.
😂 Follow the subsequent drama from back in the day in this thread starting here:
https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,2582.msg241495.html#msg241495.
NASA determined that the flight’s many failures constituted a “High Visibility Close Call” and so began an investigation of Starliner’s hardware, software, testing methodology and Boeing culture in general, finding some 70 issues that needed to be resolved before future flights — including a do-over of the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test, which did not occur until May 2022. That flight also experienced problems, but at least managed to make it up to the ISS and back OK.
So we see from today’s Crew Flight Test, Boeing Starliner continues its run of problem-plagued missions.
⬇️ The Flag, on an ISS hatch; Demo-2; FiDO: WTF?!?!
