Boeing’s Starliner capsule will depart the Worldwide House Station with out astronauts as we speak (Sept. 6), and you’ll watch the motion reside.
A livestream of Starliner’s homecoming will start at 5:45 p.m. EDT (2145 GMT) as we speak, that includes the capsule’s undocking at 6:04 p.m. EDT (2204 GMT). You may watch it right here at House.com, through NASA Tv.
Touchdown, at White Sands House Harbor in New Mexico, is scheduled about six hours later, on Saturday (Sept. 7) at 12:03 a.m. EDT (0403 GMT or 10:03 p.m. native time Sept. 6). NASA will livestream that occasion as effectively, beginning at 10:50 p.m. EDT (0250 GMT).
Starliner’s Crew Flight Take a look at (CFT) to the Worldwide House Station (ISS) — the capsule’s first-ever human spaceflight — lifted off on June 5 and docked with the orbiting complicated on June 6, though the primary docking try was waved off. Starliner skilled helium leaks earlier than launch and, throughout docking, 5 of its 28 response management system thrusters went offline.
Associated: Boeing’s 1st crewed Starliner to return to Earth with out astronauts on Sept. 6
CFT was initially alleged to final about 10 days. However NASA licensed a mission extension that finally stretched to about three months, to permit for in depth floor and house testing on Starliner’s propulsion system earlier than senior company evaluations authorizing the spacecraft to land.
NASA in the end determined that sending CFT’s two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, residence on Starliner was too dangerous. So the duo will experience residence on a SpaceX Crew Dragon in February 2025, whereas Starliner will return to Earth uncrewed.
SpaceX and Boeing each acquired multibillion-dollar-contracts from NASA in 2014 for astronaut flights, to fill the crew-carrying sneakers of the house shuttle, which retired in 2011. At the moment, it was anticipated these business crewed flights would start in 2017. However technical and funding delays meant that SpaceX didn’t fly people till 2020; Starliner waited 4 further years, till CFT.
NASA, Boeing, Williams and Wilmore (who’re each former U.S. Navy take a look at pilots) have all emphasised the tough nature of complicated developmental tasks in aerospace. Particularly, since everybody grapples typically with the unknown on a take a look at mission akin to CFT, timelines are at all times topic to vary. It is unclear how CFT certification will probably be affected by Starliner’s newest points, however NASA and Boeing will probably be analyzing the method within the coming months.
Starliner’s first uncrewed take a look at flight to the ISS in 2019, the identical yr as SpaceX’s, didn’t go to plan; the Boeing capsule failed to succeed in the station on account of technical glitches. Rerunning the mission required addressing dozens of points; it was additionally delayed because of the COVID pandemic that erupted in early 2020.
The second uncrewed take a look at flight of Starliner principally went to plan in 2022, together with an ISS docking, though Starliner confronted some thruster points as effectively. (How these are associated to the CFT points are nonetheless being investigated, however officers say it seems to be on account of totally different causes.) CFT was alleged to launch in 2023, however the mission was delayed after points with parachute loading and wiring wrapped in flammable tape had been found.
CFT’s first launch try, on Might 6, 2024, was delayed after a valve challenge was found on Starliner’s rocket experience, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V. Submit-scrub, officers discovered a small helium leak in one in every of Starliner’s thrusters.
Whereas not a direct launch hazard, the leak was investigated for security causes, and each NASA and Boeing uncovered a design vulnerability: If sufficient thrusters went offline, one of many re-entry modes could be affected. NASA licensed a brand new entry mode after performing floor simulations with the CFT crew.
A second try at launch on June 1 was scrubbed on account of a floor tools challenge, after which Starliner flew to house on the third attempt on June 5.
