The Boeing Starliner approaches the ISS on May 20, 2022. Photo: NASA Johnson
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are preparing the CST-100 Starliner for their return trip, currently scheduled for Wednesday. The historic mission is coming to an end quickly, as Boeing has completed several key tests of its new spacecraft while docked at the advanced orbital location. It has been a nail-biting mission for Boeing, after two previous failed attempts to bring Starliner to the ISS.
When it leaves the ISS on Wednesday afternoon, the Starliner capsule will have spent five days connected to the station. The spacecraft encountered the ISS at 20:28 ET on Friday, May 20, after launching into space the day before. The problem with the propulsion system, which occurred during the orbital burning of Starliner, does not appear to have affected the mission, known as the Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2, or OFT-2.
The successful docking saw an unmanned Starliner connecting to a new Boeing-built docking port connected to the ISS’s Harmony module. Upon docking, the capsule recharged its batteries using solar arrays mounted on the service module, according to a Boeing press release.
Ted Colbert, CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said in a statement that the successful deployment of Starliner “is another important step in this test to send astronauts into orbit safely and reliably.” The goal is to get Starliner approved for human use, giving NASA a second means of transporting its astronauts into space (the other is SpaceX’s Crew Dragon).
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The astronauts of the NASA inspect the interior of the Starliner, with Rosie the Rocketeer (a mannequin) still tied to his seat.Picture: NASA
The astronauts with the expedition 67 crew opened the Starliner hatch on Saturday morning, allowing them to venture inside. Still tied to her seat was Rosie the Rocketeer, a test dummy that tracks the physical conditions associated with human spaceflight. After inspecting the inside of the capsule, NASA flight engineers Kjell Lindgren and Bob Hines began the process of unloading the Starliner, which carried 500 pounds of cargo to the ISS.
Boeing and NASA have also completed a number of coupled flight test targets, including shared ventilation between Starliner and the space station, testing various audio checks (including with Mission Control in Florida), confirming coupled telemetry paths and file transfers and recharging Starliner batteries from the power station. The crew still needs to load 600 pounds of cargo into Starliner, perform systems activation and control before docking, and close the Starliner hatch, among other tasks.
The spacecraft is expected to take off from the ISS at 2:36 pm EDT on Wednesday, May 25th. Starliner will then re-enter the atmosphere and make a parachute-assisted landing near the White Sands spaceport in New Mexico. Gizmodo will be offering live coverage of this event tomorrow, so stay tuned.