{"id":10502,"date":"2022-05-19T23:20:47","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T15:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/boeings-starliner-crew-capsule-takes-off-on-long-awaited-test-flight\/"},"modified":"2022-05-19T23:20:47","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T15:20:47","slug":"boeings-starliner-crew-capsule-takes-off-on-long-awaited-test-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/boeings-starliner-crew-capsule-takes-off-on-long-awaited-test-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing\u2019s Starliner crew capsule takes off on long-awaited test flight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ULA\u2019s Atlas 5 rocket climbs off pad 41 with Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft. Credit: Alex Polimeni \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft thundered into orbit Thursday from Cape Canaveral aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, aiming to dock at the International Space Station on a years-late test flight to prove the capsule\u2019s systems before flying astronauts.<\/p>\n

The successful launch came nearly two-and-a-half years after the first Starliner test flight was cut short by software problems, preventing it from docking at the space station. Boeing and NASA decided to retry the test flight, but managers called off a launch attempt last August after valves in the Starliner propulsion system, requiring more than nine months of troubleshooting and testing to get the mission back on the launch pad.<\/p>\n

Just like the first test flight in 2019, ULA\u2019s Atlas 5 gave the Starliner spacecraft a good ride into space again Thursday, deploying the capsule on a planned trajectory just shy of the velocity needed to enter a stable orbit. The capsule fired thrusters to insert itself into a preliminary orbit about 31 minutes into the mission, officials said.<\/p>\n

But engineers late Thursday were analyzing the failure of two thrusters during the orbit insertion burn. The Starliner\u2019s orbital maneuvering and attitude control, or OMAC, jets were used for the injection burn, and will be fired again for several rendezvous burns to fine-tune the craft\u2019s approach to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had two thrusters fail,\u201d said Mark Nappi, Boeing\u2019s Starliner program manager. \u201cThe first one had fired. It fired for a second and then it shut down. The flight control system did what it was supposed to and it turned it over to the second thruster. It fired for about 25 seconds and then it shut down.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, the flight control system took over, did what it was supposed to, and and went to third thruster and we had a successful orbital insertion,\u201d Nappi said.<\/p>\n

The Starliner spacecraft remained on course to dock at the space station around 7:10 p.m. EDT (2310 GMT) Friday, but officials said engineers will analyze the thruster issue overnight before a management meeting Friday morning to decide on whether to proceed with the approach to the station.<\/p>\n

Steve Stich, NASA\u2019s commercial crew program manager, said the spacecraft has \u201cplenty of redundancy\u201d to complete the test flight without the failed thrusters. The thrusters that shut off during the orbit insertion burn are located in one of four doghouse-shaped propulsion pods on the Starliner service module.<\/p>\n

Each \u201cdoghouse\u201d has three aft-facing OMAC engines, for a total of 12. There are eight additional OMAC engines positioned in other areas of the spacecraft. Each OMAC thruster generates about 1,500 pounds of thrust, and are used in conjunction with lower-thrust reaction control system thrusters to maneuver the Starliner spacecraft in orbit.<\/p>\n