Well, Boeing Starliner’s triumphant ascent to the heavens for its first crewed test flight may not have signaled the end of the spacecraft’s problems.
When Starliner finally launched with astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard on June 5, the plan was for the pair to spend about nine days on the International Space Station before coming home.
However, now the capsule, dubbed “Calypso” by Williams and Wilmore, will be docking at the ISS 17 days, nearly twice as long as originally planned. Intriguingly, for anyone who has followed Starliner’s saga of defects and delays, the astronauts are getting an extended stay so they can run some more tests on the spacecraft, NASA officials have announced.
The tests will include firing seven of the capsule’s thrusters, checking cabin temperature among other assessments while the astronauts and the folks back on the ground are “finalizing departure planning and operations.”
Admittedly, this all seems reasonable enough at first glance, but Starliner doesn’t have the best track record so far, as we’ve previously noted. Starliner is years behind schedule and millions of dollars over budget.
Back in 2014, NASA awarded Boeing a $4.2 billion contract to construct a spacecraft to haul astronauts to and from the ISS and any other low-Earth-orbit destinations, with the first crewed test flight occurring in 2017.
Things haven’t exactly gone according to plan. While SpaceX, the other company awarded a commercial crew contract, got its Dragon capsule up and running in 2020, Starliner didn’t complete its first successful uncrewed test mission until 2022. SpaceX has conducted a dozen crewed launches since 2020 and will almost certainly have completed more before Starliner starts flying its six contracted missions.
Meanwhile, Starliner has already cost Boeing $1.5 billion while NASA has footed the bill for nearly $5 billion, and all of that money hasn’t managed to create a flawless, space-ready vehicle.
In fact, the project has been beset by malfunctions, from a computer software issue in the first uncrewed test flight in 2019 that left the vehicle unable to dock with the ISS to the discovery last summer that flammable electrical tape had been used in the crew cabin, delaying the crewed flight test a year.
Last month saw more delays and two missions scrubbed after the 172-foot-tall spacecraft was on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as more problems were discovered, including a small helium leak. And the issues didn’t stop cropping up when the spacecraft made it to low-Earth-orbit.
Ultimately, when evaluating the helium leak, engineers had concluded that one leak in Starliner’s helium propulsion system wasn’t going to be a problem. Now, that’s what they’re sticking with even though Starliner has sprung four more helium leaks since it reached the ISS. Starliner has more than enough helium in its tanks and “has plenty of margin to support the return trip,” NASA officials have stated.
On top of that, another propulsion system issue came up when Starliner was docking with the ISS. Namely, five of the spacecrafts 28 thrusters wouldn’t fire up to allow the spacecraft to make the movements needed to get it connected up to the ISS. Boeing got four back online, allowing the spacecraft to dock, but NASA announced they’re going to conduct hot fire testing where they will briefly light up seven of the eight thrusters near its tail to make sure they’re in working order before Starliner heads back with its crew.
NASA is also going to run some tests aimed at making sure Starliner will be safe to use as an emergency shelter from the ISS, with NASA officials noting that “the spacecraft remains cleared for crew emergency return scenarios within the flight rules.”
On June 21, with the tests completed, Williams and Wilmore will begin their trip back to Earth aboard Starliner. Fingers crossed, that part, at least, will be problem-free.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
