CAPE CANAVER, Florida (AP) – With only a test dummy on board, the Boeing astronaut’s capsule pulled and parked on the International Space Station for the first time on Friday, a huge achievement for the company after years of false starts.
CAPE CANAVER, Florida (AP) – With only a test dummy on board, the Boeing astronaut’s capsule pulled and parked on the International Space Station for the first time on Friday, a huge achievement for the company after years of false starts.
The only other time Boeing’s Starliner has flown in space, it has never reached the station, ending up in the wrong orbit.
This time, the repaired spacecraft reached the right place after launch on Thursday and docked at the station 25 hours later. Automated convergence went off without a major problem, despite a pair of pushers that failed during take-off.
Boeing’s flight comes three years after Elon Musk’s Spacex conducted the same test. Since then, SpaceX has launched 18 astronauts to NASA’s space station, as well as tourists.
If the rest of Starliner’s mission goes well, Boeing may be ready to release its first crew by the end of this year. The astronauts, who are likely to serve on Starliner’s first crew, have joined the Boeing and NASA flight controllers in Houston as the action unfolds nearly 270 miles (435 kilometers) up.
NASA wants layoffs when it comes to the Florida-based taxi service for astronauts. Administrator Bill Nelson said Boeing’s long journey with Starliner underscores the importance of having two types of capsules for the crew. US astronauts have been blocked from flying Russian rockets since the end of the shuttle program, until the first flight of the SpaceX crew in 2020.
Boeing’s first Starliner test flight in 2019 was plagued by software bugs that interrupted the mission and could have doomed the spacecraft. They were corrected, but when the new capsule waited to take off last summer, corroded valves stopped the countdown. More repairs followed as Boeing amassed nearly $ 600 million in overcoming costs.
Before allowing Starliner to approach the space station on Friday, Boeing’s ground controllers practiced maneuvering the capsule and testing its robotic vision system. Everything was going well, Boeing said, except for the cooling circuit and both refused the pusher. However, the capsule maintained a stable temperature and had many other pushing controls.
After Starliner was 10 miles (15 kilometers) from the space station, Boeing’s Houston flight controllers could see the space station through capsule chambers. “We are removing. Can you see us? ”Joked station astronaut Bob Hines.
The gleaming white-blue capsule hung 33 feet (10 meters) from the station for nearly two hours — significantly longer than planned — while flight controllers adjusted its docking ring to ensure everything else was in order. When the green light finally came on, Starliner narrowed the gap by four minutes.
The seven astronauts on the space station will unload Starliner food and equipment and pack it with experiments. Unlike SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which is sprayed off the coast of Florida, Starliner will aim to land in New Mexico next Wednesday.
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The Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Scientific Education. AP is solely responsible for all content.
Marsha Dunn, Associated Press
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