{"id":10536,"date":"2022-05-05T01:46:04","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T17:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/boeings-starliner-crew-capsule-meets-atlas-rocket-for-long-delayed-test-flight\/"},"modified":"2022-05-05T01:46:04","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T17:46:04","slug":"boeings-starliner-crew-capsule-meets-atlas-rocket-for-long-delayed-test-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/boeings-starliner-crew-capsule-meets-atlas-rocket-for-long-delayed-test-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing\u2019s Starliner crew capsule meets Atlas rocket for long-delayed test flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IHKqK0pZ2zI\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Ready for another try at launching on a test flight to the International Space Station, Boeing rolled a repaired Starliner crew capsule to United Launch Alliance\u2019s seaside rocket hangar at Cape Canaveral Wednesday to prepare for a liftoff scheduled for May 19.<\/p>\n<p>The test flight will not carry astronauts, but could set the stage for the first Starliner crew mission to the space station late this year or in early 2023, NASA and Boeing officials said in a press conference Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The upcoming mission, known as Orbital Flight Test 2, is set for liftoff May 19 at 6:54 p.m. EDT (2254 GMT) aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. The Starliner spacecraft, carrying a mannequin and about 500 pounds of supplies, is scheduled to link up with the space station the next day to begin several days of cargo transfers and checkouts while docked at the complex.<\/p>\n<p>Then the spacecraft will depart the station and jettison its expendable propulsion module. The crew module section, designed for reuse, will target a landing under parachutes at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Undocking and landing are scheduled for May 25, assuming the mission takes off May 19.<\/p>\n<p>Boeing and ULA transferred the spacecraft to the Atlas 5 rocket\u2019s Vertical Integration Facility on Wednesday, a few hours later than planned due to a hydraulic leak on the capsule\u2019s transporter. The convoy, which included security and support personnel, briefly stopped near the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy after a protective cover blew off the Starliner\u2019s window.<\/p>\n<p>A Boeing spokesperson said the cover is intended to be removed before launch, and its absence was not an issue for the spacecraft to continue to the Atlas 5 hangar. Once in position, a crane hoisted the spacecraft on top of the Atlas 5 rocket, which was assembled inside the VIF last month.<\/p>\n<p>ULA and Boeing will run the Atlas 5 and Starliner spacecraft through integrated checkouts over the next two weeks. The 172-foot-tall (52-meter) rocket will roll to the launch pad May 18, the day before liftoff.<\/p>\n<p>Developed in a public-private partnership, the Starliner spacecraft will give NASA a second human-rated capsule capable of ferrying astronauts to and from the space station, alongside SpaceX\u2019s Dragon spaceship, which launched with a crew for the first time in May 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very important for commercial crew to have our second transportation system up and operational to continue our assured access to ISS, and also to grow our low Earth orbit economy,\u201d said Steve Stich, NASA\u2019s commercial crew program manager.<\/p>\n<p>But the program has encountered a series of delays and setbacks, including an orbital test flight in December 2019 that ended prematurely due to a software programming error. The software glitch, associated with the spacecraft\u2019s on-board timer, prevented &nbsp;the Starliner from docking at the space station as planned, and the capsule made a safe landing in New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>The Starliner spacecraft also ran into problems with its communications system on the two-day demonstration mission in 2019. Boeing engineers had to solve a second software problem detected in flight, which could have caused the spacecraft\u2019s service module to collide with the crew module after the two elements separated just prior to re-entry.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_56798\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-56798\" style=\"width: 1400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56798\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll2.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll2-678x452.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll2-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-56798\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The crew module of Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft for the OFT-2 mission. Credit: Stephen Clark \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Engineers completed an in-depth review of the Starliner\u2019s software code, and added more extensive tests of the software programming before trying another test flight last year, called OFT-2.<\/p>\n<p>The spacecraft was rolled to the launch pad last August at Cape Canaveral atop its Atlas 5 rocket, but tests revealed 13 stuck isolation valves in the Starliner propulsion system.<\/p>\n<p>Boeing and NASA, which manages the Starliner commercial crew contract, agreed to remove the Starliner from the Atlas 5 rocket and postpone the mission to investigate the valve problem. Officials said Tuesday that testing showed corrosion inside the valves \u2014 caused by a chemical reaction between moisture, nitrogen tetroxide propellant, and the valves\u2019 aluminum housing \u2014 caused the components to stick inside the plumbing on the spacecraft\u2019s service module.<\/p>\n<p>Nitrogen tetroxide, or NTO, is a toxic liquid used as an oxidizer on the Starliner spacecraft\u2019s propulsion system. Hydrazine fuel ignites when mixed with the oxidizer, generating thrust from the spacecraft\u2019s rocket jets \u2014 supplied by Aerojet Rocketdyne \u2014 for in-space maneuvers and docking at the space station.<\/p>\n<p>The stuck valves are used to isolate the thrusters from the nitrogen tetroxide tank, and need to open in flight to operate the thrusters for maneuvers or a launch abort.<\/p>\n<p>Engineers from Boeing, NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Marotta, which produced the valves, honed in the cause of the problem during an eight-month investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Technicians detached the service module from the Starliner\u2019s crew module in January for shipment to a test facility in New Mexico, where teams performed tests to better understand the valve problem. The OFT-2 mission will fly with a new service module, one originally assigned to the first Starliner mission with astronauts.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation revealed nitrogen tetroxide vapors seeped through Teflon seals in the valves, an occurrence that was known to happen in similar systems on other spacecraft. But moisture from the humid Florida air \u2014 not from rainfall, officials said \u2014 somehow made its way into the service module and reacted with the nitrogen tetroxide to create nitric acid.<\/p>\n<p>The nitric acid then reacted with aluminum material in the valve housings to create aluminum nitrate deposits, leading to corrosion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose corrosion products then resulted in preventing valve motion,\u201d said Michelle Parker, Boeing\u2019s vice president and deputy general manager for space and launch programs.<\/p>\n<p>Engineers have not redesigned the valves on the new Starliner service module, but added \u201cmitigations\u201d to help prevent moisture from entering the propulsion system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you eliminate the moisture from the valve, you won\u2019t have this reaction and it won\u2019t lead to corrosion,\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_56799\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-56799\" style=\"width: 1400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56799\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll3.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll3-678x452.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll3-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-56799\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Stephen Clark \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The valves will be purged with nitrogen gas to prevent moisture build-up, and Boeing added sealant around an electrical connector that provided a path for humidity to get into the valves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose two things will prevent the moisture from getting into the valve to start that reaction at all,\u201d Parker said.<\/p>\n<p>Boeing also made process changes, and loaded the nitrogen tetroxide into the service module closer the time the spacecraft rolled out of the factory at the Kennedy Space Center. Teams will also command valve cycles every two to five days through launch day to ensure that the valves remain operational, Parker said.<\/p>\n<p>The final pre-launch valve cycle test will occur during the countdown May 19.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are confident that we have the right mitigations in place,\u201d said Mark Nappi, Boeing\u2019s program manager for the Starliner. \u201cWe\u2019ve also cycled the valves several times. We\u2019ll continue to cycle the valves until we get to launch day to boost the confidence that we have a system that\u2019s working.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stich, a former space shuttle flight director, said valves on the shuttle\u2019s reaction control system jets were also susceptible to moisture causing corrosion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese prop iso valves, especially with NTO, they\u2019re the bane of our existence,\u201d said Kathy Lueders, associate administrator of NASA\u2019s space operations mission directorate. \u201cThis is something that is not a new phenomenon on the spacecraft side.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019ve been Florida in July, just imagine being outside,\u201d Lueders said. \u201cIt\u2019s just the ambient humidity. This is kind of an insidious thing because you have a vehicle on the pad.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_56797\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-56797\" style=\"width: 1400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-56797\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll1.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll1-678x452.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/starliner-oft2-roll1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-56797\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Boeing\u2019s Starliner crew capsule moves toward ULA\u2019s Vertical Integration Facility. Credit: Stephen Clark \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With SpaceX now providing regular crew transportation services to the space station, there\u2019s no rush to make the Starliner spacecraft operational. Nevertheless, NASA is eager to have two crew transportation providers to avoid again relying on Russia\u2019s Soyuz spacecraft for astronaut flights in the event SpaceX runs into any significant delays.<\/p>\n<p>NASA has signed a series of contracts with Boeing, valued at more than $5 billion, since 2010 for Starliner development, test flights, and operations. The contracts include agreements for six crew rotation flights to the space station \u2014 each with a four-person crew \u2014 following the completion of the OFT-2 mission and the short-duration Crew Flight Test, or CFT, with three NASA astronauts on-board.<\/p>\n<p>NASA and Boeing officials declined to set a target schedule for the Crew Flight Test, only saying that preparations on the capsule for the first astronaut mission were on track to have the vehicle ready for launch by the end of this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe best path to CFT is a successful OFT-2 flight because this is the time that the vehicle is put through its paces in the space environment, through the complex rendezvous and docking sequence with the navigation sensors,\u201d Stich said. \u201cAnd really the only way to test that, we\u2019ve found, is in the space environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ufeff\ufeff Ready for another try at launching on a test flight to the International Space Station, Boeing rolled a repaired Starliner crew capsule to United Launch Alliance\u2019s seaside rocket hangar at Cape Canaveral Wednesday to prepare for a liftoff scheduled for May 19. The test flight will not carry astronauts, but could set the stage [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}