Boeing’s Starliner capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Friday night (May 20th), marking a major milestone for the aerospace giant and its quest to fly NASA astronauts to and from orbit.
Starliner took off on top of the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket on Thursday night (May 19th), launching a crucial unmanned mission to a station called Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2). About 22 hours later, Starliner began heading to the ISS, performing a series of overflights, approaches and retreats designed to demonstrate its rendezvous.
This orbital dance culminated at 20:28 EDT (0028 GMT on May 21) today, when Starliner finally connected to the station, mooring in the forward port of its Harmony node. The Boeing spacecraft and station sailed about 270 miles above the South Indian Ocean as they met in orbit.
“The Starliner looks beautiful in front of the space station,” NASA astronaut Robert Hines told Mission Control from the station after the dock.
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Boeing’s Starliner OFT-2 spacecraft docked at the International Space Station on May 20, 2022 (Image credit: NASA TV) Image 2 of 5
Boeing’s Starliner OFT-2 is 10 meters from the International Space Station during its first docking operation on May 20, 2022 (Image courtesy: NASA TV) Image 3 of 5
Boeing’s Starliner OFT-2 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station during its first docking operation on May 20, 2022 (Image courtesy: NASA TV) Image 4 of 5
Boeing’s Starliner capsule conducts a circumnavigation test leading to a planned docking with the International Space Station on May 20, 2022 (Image credit: NASA TV) Image 5 of 5
The Boeing Starliner capsule, as seen from the International Space Station on May 20, 2022, more than two hours before the planned docking of the capsule with the orbital laboratory. (Image credit: NASA TV)
The docking happened more than an hour later than planned.
NASA and Boeing originally intended to attach Starliner to the station at 19:10 EDT (23:10 GMT), but initially postponed to wait for better lighting and communication conditions, then postponed it again to reset the system. to dock NASA’s space capsule, or NDS, when they discovered a small anomaly. This reset worked and Starliner connected smoothly to its docking port.
However, it was a monumental moment for Boeing, which signed a multi-billion dollar contract with NASA in 2014 to transport astronauts to and from the ISS with the help of Starliner. Today’s jump showed that the capsule could indeed make its way to the orbital laboratory – something it had failed to do once before.
The original OFT, which launched in December 2019, ended prematurely after Starliner suffered a series of software problems and was locked into an orbit too low to allow an ISS meeting. The OFT-2 was originally scheduled to take off last summer, but pre-launch inspections revealed that 13 of the 24 oxidation valves in Starliner’s propulsion system were blocked. It took about eight months to determine the cause of the problem and fix it.
OFT-2 is also not going perfectly smoothly so far. One of the Starliner pushers was damaged during its critical orbital insertion 31 minutes after takeoff, NASA and Boeing officials said during a press conference after the launch on Thursday night.
The booster backup is triggered to compensate, but fails before the combustion is complete. A tertiary backup booster was then activated and Starliner was able to enter the correct orbit for the ISS meeting. This spare-to-spare booster also performed well during the subsequent burnout of Starliner’s engine on Thursday night, NASA officials said.
“The system was designed to be redundant and worked as it should. The team is now working on “why” why these anomalies occurred, “Mark Napie, vice president and program manager for Boeing’s crew sales program, told a news conference.
Members of the mission’s team have already determined that the two damage to the thruster was caused by a drop in chamber pressure, Boeing officials said in an email statement this afternoon. The propulsion system “operates normally during all demonstrations of the propulsion system and with the available reserves does not pose a risk to the rest of the flight test,” the statement said.
The statement added that Starliner underwent a series of tests before approaching the ISS, including a cessation of maneuvers and a test of its Vision-based electro-optical sensor tracking system (VESTA), which it uses to lock in. the orbital laboratory.
“Flight control teams continue to learn more about the vehicle and how it works in space, and it continues to perform well as it makes its way to the station,” Boeing said in a statement. “The guidance, navigation and control systems (GN&C) work nominally. The flight software works as designed. Energy generation is positive.”
The team identified some unexpected behavior in the “thermal cooling circuit”, but Starliner was able to maintain a stable temperature, the statement added.
Boeing’s Starliner OFT-2 is 10 meters from the International Space Station during its first docking operation on May 20, 2022 (Image courtesy: NASA TV)
And Starliner is now safe on the ISS, where he will stay for four or five days before leaving for a landing in the western United States. If the capsule manages to surpass the remaining stages, it could be approved to take NASA astronauts to the station, perhaps before the end of the year.
“Today marks a major milestone in providing additional commercial access to Earth’s low orbit, maintaining the ISS and allowing NASA’s goal to bring humans back to the moon and eventually to Mars,” Hines, NASA’s astronaut, told Mission Control from the station. he greeted the Boeing team. The great achievements in human spaceflight are remembered for a long time in history. Today will be no different.
And speaking of the main stages of OFT-2 – the next big one you can watch is the opening of the hatches between Starliner and the ISS, after which the astronauts, who currently live in the orbital laboratory, can sail aboard the newcomer. This is scheduled to happen around 11:45 a.m. EDT (1545 GMT) on Saturday (May 21). You can watch it live on Space.com, courtesy of NASA; coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. EDT (3:30 p.m. GMT).
Boeing is not the only company to have a NASA sales crew contract; the agency signed a similar deal with SpaceX in 2014, Elon Musk’s company has already launched its taxi service for astronauts, and has so far launched four operational missions with a crew to the ISS for NASA.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow it on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Facebook.
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