{"id":17173,"date":"2024-09-06T18:39:32","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T10:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/boeings-starliner-spacecraft-wraps-up-its-crewless-journey-home-from-space-station\/"},"modified":"2024-09-06T18:39:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T10:39:32","slug":"boeings-starliner-spacecraft-wraps-up-its-crewless-journey-home-from-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/boeings-starliner-spacecraft-wraps-up-its-crewless-journey-home-from-space-station\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft wraps up its crewless journey home from space station"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/240906-starliner2-630x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-837990\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/240906-starliner2-630x400.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/240906-starliner2-1260x801.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/240906-starliner2-768x488.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/240906-starliner2.jpg 1262w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">Boeing\u2019s Starliner space capsule sits in the New Mexico desert after touchdown. (Boeing Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t perfect, but the propulsion system that NASA worried about did its job today as Boeing\u2019s Starliner space capsule made an uncrewed descent from the International Space Station back down to Earth.<\/p>\n<p>The gumdrop-shaped spacecraft, christened Calypso, floated down to a parachute-assisted, airbag-cushioned touchdown at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStarliner is back on Earth,\u201d Boeing commentator Lauren Brennecke said.<\/p>\n<p>Starliner\u2019s first crewed trip to the space station was supposed to last only about a week, but when the capsule made its approach for docking on June 6, five thrusters out of a set of 28 malfunctioned. Four of the thrusters were reactivated, and NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams executed a successful docking. But concerns about the thrusters \u2014 and about a string of helium leaks in the propulsion pressurization system \u2014 sparked weeks of troubleshooting by NASA and Boeing.<\/p>\n<p>Engineers decided that they could cope with the helium leaks, but the thruster problem was a bigger concern. Tests determined that the propulsion system\u2019s performance was degraded by overheating that exceeded design specifications. <\/p>\n<p>Two weeks ago, NASA said the uncertainties surrounding the system\u2019s performance were too great to risk having Williams and Wilmore ride back to Earth on Starliner. Instead, the astronauts were told to remain on the station for months longer than originally planned.<\/p>\n<p>To accommodate the personnel shift, NASA reduced the size of the next scheduled crew, known as Crew-9, from four to two spacefliers. That crew is due to go into orbit in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on Sept. 24. Williams and Wilmore will join Crew-9 and return to Earth in the SpaceX capsule next February.<\/p>\n<p>The problems with the propulsion system couldn\u2019t be totally resolved: One of the thrusters in the set of 28 on Starliner\u2019s service module was taken offline, due to performance concerns that arose during testing. But the other 27 were in working order for Starliner\u2019s departure at 6:04 p.m. ET (3:04 p.m. PT).<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CFT Starliner undocking and departure\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yMiFCshQ02k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s on her way home,\u201d Williams said as the spacecraft cleared a 4-by-2-kilometer (2.5-by-1.2-mile) region around the space station known as the approach ellipsoid.<\/p>\n<p>Orbital tests revealed that one of the 12 maneuvering thrusters on Starliner\u2019s crew module didn\u2019t fire when commanded to do so, but NASA commentator Brandi Dean said that resulted in only a \u201cslight loss of redundancy\u201d for Starliner\u2019s maneuvers.<\/p>\n<p>Under autonomous control, the spacecraft successfully executed the required rocket firings, including a deorbit burn that sent it screaming through the atmosphere. NASA said Starliner\u2019s heat shield protected the hardware from temperatures in excess of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius) as the craft decelerated.<\/p>\n<p>Starliner\u2019s three main parachutes deployed on cue, and the airbags inflated for a soft landing at 10:01 p.m. MT (9:01 p.m. PT). A beacon on the spacecraft helped guide the recovery team that drove out through the desert in the dark. Securing the spacecraft was expected to take hours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a good landing, pretty awesome,\u201d Mission Control told Williams over a radio link with the space station.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou guys are the best,\u201d Williams replied.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CFT Starliner landing\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DfMbwtcN-qk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Today\u2019s relatively trouble-free landing was likely to come as a welcome turn for a program that has suffered through years of delays and about $1.6 billion in cost overruns \u2014 overruns that Boeing has had to absorb. An uncrewed Starliner test flight went awry in 2019, forcing a re-do in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Now that the end has come for what was to have been Starliner\u2019s first crewed round trip, NASA and Boeing will be taking a close look at data from the test flight and determining the program\u2019s future course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday we saw the vehicle perform really well,\u201d Steve Stich, program manager for NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Program, told reporters during a post-landing briefing. \u201cWe\u2019ve got some things we know we\u2019ve got to go work on, and we\u2019ll go do that and fix those things, and go fly when we\u2019re ready.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said he had no regrets about the decision to keep Williams and Wilmore on the space station and send Starliner home empty. \u201cIf we had a model that would have predicted what we saw tonight perfectly \u2014 yeah, it looks like an easy decision to go say we could have had a crewed flight,\u201d Stich said. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of Boeing\u2019s Commercial Crew Program, paid tribute to his teammates. \u201cI want to recognize the work the Starliner teams did to ensure a successful and safe undocking, deorbit, re-entry and landing,\u201d he said in an online update from Boeing. \u201cWe will review the data and determine the next steps for the program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon has been successfully flying astronauts to and from the space station since 2020, but during a news briefing last month, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said it was important to have Starliner as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need two [types of] spacecraft to have the redundancy in case one is not able to take crew to and from the International Space Station,\u201d Nelson told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>Ken Bowersox, NASA\u2019s associate administrator for space operations, also signaled that the space agency would stick with Boeing. \u201cWe\u2019ve had two good partners, Boeing and SpaceX, when it comes to commercial crew,\u201d he said last month. \u201cWhen they have problems, we don\u2019t just throw rocks at them, or tell them that we don\u2019t like them. We work with them to get through those problems.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boeing\u2019s Starliner space capsule sits in the New Mexico desert after touchdown. (Boeing Photo) It wasn\u2019t perfect, but the propulsion system that NASA worried about did its job today as Boeing\u2019s Starliner space capsule made an uncrewed descent from the International Space Station back down to Earth. The gumdrop-shaped spacecraft, christened Calypso, floated down to [&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":[670,717,190,1306],"class_list":["post-17173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-boeing","tag-international-space-station","tag-nasa","tag-starliner"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17173"}],"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=17173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}