Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft landed safely in the White Sands Missile Range spaceport.Picture: NASA / Bill Ingalls
The Boeing Starliner successfully landed yesterday on the sandy surface of the New Mexico desert, marking the completion of the first unmanned end-to-end test of the spacecraft. It was a perfect landing, but the six-day mission was not without its problems.
The CST-100 Starliner spacecraft landed Wednesday at 4:49 pm local time (6:49 pm EDT) at the White Sands Missile Range spacecraft after spending six days in low Earth orbit. The spacecraft left the space station with more than 600 pounds (270 kilograms) of cargo, including three reusable spent nitrogen oxygen tanks that provided breathable air to ISS crew members.
Four hours after disengaging from the orbital outpost, Starliner deployed three parachutes and six airbags to help it make a smooth landing. A team will now transport the vehicle back to the company’s facilities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for processing.
The test flight is part of Boeing’s $ 4.3 billion contract with NASA’s commercial crew program to offer its astronauts travel to and from the ISS. But Boeing had lagged behind in delivering a viable spacecraft after two previous failed test attempts, one in 2019 and one last year. Meanwhile, its commercial counterpart SpaceX (which received a $ 2.6 billion contract from NASA) has been leaving astronauts on the ISS for two years.
The completion of this end-to-end test flight, called the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), took a long time to arrive, but it is clear that there were several problems during the mission.
The Starliner CST-100 spacecraft was launched on May 19 from the Cape Canaveral space force station in Florida. About 30 minutes after takeoff, one of the 12 propellers responsible for the orbital maneuvers malfunctioned, followed by a failure of a safety propeller, as explained by Steve Sitch, manager of NASA’s commercial crew program , at a post-launch press conference. A problem with the team keeping Starliner cool also arose early in the mission.
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When it came time to meet the ISS, a ring responsible for sticking to the station did not unfold properly, causing Starliner to lose more of its scheduled contact time. ‘one hour, according to AFP. And shortly after landing, the recovery team detected hydrazine vapor, a flammable oily liquid that is dangerous to inhale, around the spacecraft. That persistent chemical, which forced the recovery team to temporarily retreat, may have been the result of Starliner not burning all of its propellant, Stich said during a post-landing briefing. No leaks were detected, he added.
Despite these problems, the team behind the mission still seemed optimistic. “We have some things to work on … but I don’t really see any shows,” Stich told reporters at the briefing. NASA and Boeing will now carefully analyze and examine the mission data, which will inform the next steps. Assuming the problems experienced during the OFT-2 are as minor as Stich tells them they are, a manned test flight of Starliner could happen by the end of the year.
During its brief time in low Earth orbit, the Starliner was attended to by members of the ISS crew, who made a video tour of the spacecraft as it docked. The crew even met Rosie the Rocketeer, a test dummy that is equipped with 15 sensors to transmit what astronauts would have experienced aboard the spacecraft during the trip. While Rosie didn’t have much to say, NASA astronaut Robert Hines pointed the mannequin at the commander’s seat, saying it “has a great view out the window.”
Hopefully, Boeing will solve Starliner’s problems before the spacecraft transports real astronauts, not just Rosie.