Malcolm Posted June 5 Share Posted June 5 sadly in the Boeing ...... current S.O.P> SA year behind and $1.5 billion over budget: Timeline shows Boeing Starliner struggles and scrubscrubbed launches for Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, built to send a pair of astronauts to the International Space Station, have become a regular event recently. The June 1 launch of the Starliner to transport two NASA astronauts, and former Navy pilots, Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams, to and from the ISS, was halted a few minutes from liftoff and a June 2 launch window bypassed. Now, as of Tuesday afternoon, NASA was looking to attempt a launch on Wednesday, June 5, at 10:52 a.m. ET. Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning. This comes after several delays including launches scrubbed in May due to technical issues including an oxygen leak and a helium leak from the capsule's propulsion system. Boeing won NASA contract in 2014 These recent delays aren't the only challenges Boeing has faced in getting Starliner into space since NASA awarded it $4.2 billion as part of the space agency's goal of developing private industry partners to transport astronauts to and from the space station. At the time, competitor SpaceX got $2.6 billion. Each companies' funding has grown to $4.8 billion and $3.1 billion, respectively, according to NASA. Related video: VIDEO: NASA, Boeing set for 3rd attempt at Starliner crew flight test (WFTV Orlando) And the first ever Starliner launch with astronauts is expected Loaded: 7.92% Play Current Time 0:00 / Duration 2:31 Quality Settings Captions Fullscreen WFTV Orlando VIDEO: NASA, Boeing set for 3rd attempt at Starliner crew flight test Unmute 0 View on Watch While SpaceX has reliably been transporting astronauts and supplies to the ISS, Boeing's project is years behind schedule and has racked up $1.5 billion in unplanned development costs, Reuters reported. The Boeing Starliner remains grounded: See the challenges that have delayed its launch Here's a timeline of Boeing and its Starliner program. Timeline: Boeing Starliner launch delays and other events June 1, 2024: Launch of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida – with astronauts Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams on board – scrubbed when the computer ground launch sequencer did not load properly. May 14, 2024: Starliner crewed launch set for May 17 scrubbed because of a helium leak in the service module. May 6, 2024: Starliner's first crewed launch attempt scrubbed because of a faulty oxygen relief valve, NASA said. June 1, 2023: Boeing scraps July 21 first crewed flight after realizing adhesive tape on craft was flammable. Aug 25, 2022: Boeing announces early 2023 target for first manned Starliner mission. May 25, 2022: Starliner spacecraft lands in New Mexico after successful second unmanned mission to International Space Station. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft made its first connection to the International Space Station on May 20, 2022.© Boeing May 20, 2022: Starliner docks with ISS for the first time, Boeing reports. The unmanned spacecraft launched on May 19, 2022 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Aug. 4, 2021: Starliner's unmanned launch to the ISS is delayed to examine the cause of the unexpected valve position indications on its propulsion system, NASA said. July 29, 2021: A space station mishap prompts NASA to postpone Starliner's planned July 28 launch. Oct. 7, 2020: Chris Ferguson, the chief astronaut for Starliner crewed flight to the ISS, steps down from the job, citing family priorities. Jan. 7, 2020: NASA and Boeing investigate software glitches that prevented Starliner capsule from reaching the ISS. Dec. 20, 2019: Uncrewed Starliner launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station but fails to make orbit needed to dock with the ISS. It successfully descended Dec. 22, 2019 in New Mexico, NASA said. Nov. 4, 2019: Boeing says one of three parachutes failed to open during a crucial unmanned test of the Starliner. January 25, 2017: Boeing unveils lighter spacesuits for Starliner crew, NASA said. Sept. 4, 2015: Boeing unveils the assembly plant where Starliner spacecraft will be built. Sept. 16, 2014: NASA awards Boeing up to $4.2 billion – SpaceX got $2.6 billion – to launch crews to the International Space Station. April 3, 2012: Boeing had already begun working on its commercial spacecraft program, successfully completing a helicopter-aided parachute drop test of the craft on this day in Nevada, Space.com reported. October 2011: Boeing wraps up wind-tunnel tests on a scale version of what would become Starliner, Space.com reported. 1 / 25 ©Handout, Getty Images NASA's James Webb Space Telescope reveals the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth on July 12, 2023 in space. The young stars at the center of many of these disks are similar in mass to the Sun, or smaller. The heftiest in this image is the star S1, which appears amid a glowing cave it is carving out with its stellar winds in the lower half of the image. The lighter-colored gas surrounding S1 consists of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a family of carbon-based molecules that are among the most common compounds found in space. These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam instrument. Several filters were used to sample wide and narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. See more Boeing looks for success after bumpy 2024 A successful Starliner mission could help Boeing rebound in the public eye from ongoing issues with its 737 Max jets, including the grounding of the planes after an Alaska Airlines 737 Max lost a door plug during a flight in January. “It’s been hugely embarrassing for Boeing,” Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Wired in May. “It fits in with the general narrative of Boeing having lost its way." Boeing is a longtime NASA contractor, having collaborated on the Saturn V rocket in the Apollo program and the Space Shuttle program, according to Space.com. Contributing: Reuters; Brooke Edwards, Jamie Groh and Rick Neale of Florida Today. Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider. What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A year behind and $1.5 billion over budget: Timeline shows Boeing Starliner struggles and scrubs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted June 5 Share Posted June 5 Launch successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Boeing Starliner team detects new helium leaks en route to space station Boeing's Starliner capsule lifts off Wednesday atop an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a mission to the International Space Station.© John Raoux/AP Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. After a successful launch that was a decade in the making, Boeing’s Starliner mission is navigating new issues en route to the International Space Station, according to NASA. The space agency said late Wednesday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that two additional helium leaks had been detected on the vehicle. One helium leak had been discovered prior to launch and deemed acceptable. “Helium is used in spacecraft thruster systems to allow the thrusters to fire and is not combustible or toxic,” according to Boeing. As of Thursday morning, two of the three leaks have been corrected, according to a live NASA broadcast. The leak is not posing a safety risk and there helium in reserve, according to the broadcast. Starliner is still expected to dock at the space station at 12:15 p.m. ET, according to a post from the orbiting lab’s official account on X. NASA will began live coverage of the docking process on its website starting at 9:30 a.m. ET. Mission managers polled “go” for rendezvous and docking with the space station, and the leaks are not expected to impact docking, according to the broadcast. “During all of Starliner’s rendezvous and proximity operations, we’ll keep those propellant manifolds open, but they’ll stay open until docking. Starliner’s currently maintaining plenty of helium reserves,” Boeing aerospace engineer Jim May confirmed Thursday morning in a social media post on X shared by Boeing. “Currently the helium leak is not a safety issue for the crew, the vehicle or the mission.” If all goes according to plan, the hatch between the space station and Starliner will open around 2 p.m. ET, and Wilmore and Williams will be welcomed at 2:20 p.m. ET by the crew of seven cosmonauts and astronauts already aboard the station. Late night leaks Just as astronauts Butch Willmore and Suni Williams were about to go to sleep Wednesday night, mission control informed them that they needed to shut down two valves due to the new helium leaks. “Teams have identified three helium leaks on the spacecraft. One of these was previously discussed before flight along with a management plan,” NASA shared in the post. “The other two are new since the spacecraft arrived on orbit. Two of the affected helium valves have been closed and the spacecraft remains stable.” A related exchange had taken place earlier on the NASA broadcast. “Looks like we picked up a couple more helium leaks,” mission control told the astronauts, as heard on the broadcast. Controllers then walked the crew through the plan to shut down the valves. “Butch, I’m sorry. We’re still getting the story together,” mission control replied. “We are ready to … find out exactly what you mean by picked up another helium leak, so give it to us,” Wilmore told them. NASA and Boeing determined the crew was safe and told the duo to go to sleep while they continue to look at the data. The crew was supposed to sleep for nine hours, but the troubleshooting effort cut into an hour of rest time. “We have some issues to watch overnight when in regards to the helium leaks that was just brought up, and we have a lot of smart people down here on the ground that are going to take a look at this stuff and keep an eye on it, but the vehicle is in a configuration right now where they’re safe to fly,” Boeing aerospace engineer Brandon Burroughs said on the NASA broadcast. Historic launch Starliner’s highly anticipated voyage lifted off atop an Atlas V rocket Wednesday at 10:52 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The historic launch marked the first time the spacecraft has carried a crew to space. The mission, known as the Crew Flight Test, is the culmination of Boeing’s efforts to develop a spacecraft to rival SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and expand the United States’ options for ferrying astronauts to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The federal agency’s initiative aims to foster collaboration with private industry partners. The flight marks only the sixth inaugural journey of a crewed spacecraft in US history, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson noted in a May news conference. “It started with Mercury, then with Gemini, then with Apollo, the space shuttle, then (SpaceX’s) Dragon — and now Starliner,” Nelson said. Williams also made history as the first woman to fly aboard such a mission. “This is another milestone in this extraordinary history of NASA,” Nelson said Wednesday after the launch. “And I want to give my personal congratulations to the whole team that went through a lot of trial and tribulation. But they had perseverance and that’s what we do at NASA. We don’t launch until it’s right.” After spending just over 24 hours traveling to the space station, Williams and Wilmore are expected to spend about eight days living in the orbiting laboratory, but it is unclear whether the helium leaks will alter that timeline. Just after Wednesday’s launch, NASA officials shared that Williams and Wilmore may enjoy a slightly extended stay aboard the station. The earliest possible landing date is June 14. “We’ve got a prescribed landing date that goes along with this launch date, but I just want to emphasize that nobody should get too excited about that date,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. “We have to have a lot of conditions that are just right before we bring the Starliner home and we’re going to wait till the conditions are right and we’ve accomplished the test objectives before we do that.” Weeks of troubleshooting A number of issues caused the previous crewed launch attempts, on May 6 and June 1, to be scrubbed. Two hours prior to the launch attempt on May 6, engineers identified an issue with a valve on the second stage, or upper portion, of the Atlas V rocket, which was built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The entire stack, including the rocket and spacecraft, was rolled back from the launchpad for testing and repairs. Teams also worked through a small helium leak within the spacecraft service module and a “design vulnerability” in the propulsion system. After troubleshooting the initial helium leak in May, mission specialists found it did not pose a threat to the flight. During the launch countdown Wednesday morning, teams monitored the leak and reported no issues. Starliner was just 3 minutes and 50 seconds from liftoff Saturday afternoon, when an automatic hold was triggered by the ground launch sequencer, or the computer that launches the rocket. United Launch Alliance technicians and engineers assessed the ground support equipment over the weekend, examining three large computers housed inside a shelter at the base of the launchpad. Each computer is the same, providing triple redundancy to ensure the safe launch of crewed missions. Engineers isolated the issue that halted Saturday’s launch attempt to a single ground power supply within one of the computers, which provides power to the computer cards responsible for key countdown events, according to an update shared by NASA. They removed the computer and replaced it with a spare. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 More Rocket Science. SpaceX's mega rocket completes its fourth test flight from Texas without exploding Story by Marcia Dunn • 15m • 3 min read SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. The Starship is scheduled to launch Thursday. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)© The Associated Press SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket completed its first full test flight Thursday, returning to Earth without exploding after blasting off from Texas. The previous three test flights ended in explosions of the rocket and the spacecraft. This time, both managed to splash down in a controlled fashion. The world’s largest and most powerful rocket — almost 400 feet (121 meters) tall — was empty as it soared above the Gulf of Mexico and headed east on a flight to the Indian Ocean. SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. The Starship is scheduled to launch Thursday. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)© The Associated Press Minutes after Thursday morning’s liftoff, the first-stage booster separated from the spacecraft and splashed into the gulf precisely as planned, after firing its engines. An hour later, live views showed parts of the spacecraft breaking away during the intense heat of reentry, but it remained intact enough to transmit data all the way to its targeted splashdown site in the Indian Ocean. Onlookers watch as SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)© The Associated Press THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket blasted off from Texas on Thursday, the fourth test flight for the spaceship that NASA and Elon Musk are counting on to get humanity to the moon and Mars. The world’s largest and most powerful rocket — almost 400 feet (121 meters) tall — was empty as it soared above the Gulf of Mexico and headed east on a planned hourlong flight. The spacecraft on top was aiming for a half-lap around the planet with a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX was looking to avoid explosions this time by controlling the descents. Minutes after Thursday morning's liftoff, the first-stage booster separated from the spacecraft and splashed into the gulf precisely as planned, after firing its engines. SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. The Starship is scheduled to launch Thursday. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)© The Associated Press “And we have splashdown!” SpaceX launch commentator Kate Tice announced from Mission Control at company headquarters in California. It was a critical milestone in the company's plan to eventually return Starship’s Super Heavy booster to its launch site for reuse. SpaceX came close to avoiding explosion in March, but lost contact with the spacecraft as it careened out of space and blew up short of its goal. The booster also ruptured in flight, a quarter-mile above the gulf. Last year’s two test flights ended in explosions shortly after blasting off from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. The first one cratered the pad at Boca Chica Beach and hurled debris for thousands of feet (meters). SpaceX upgraded the software and made some rocket-flyback changes to improve the odds. The Federal Aviation Administration signed off Tuesday on this fourth demo, saying all safety requirements had been met. SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. The Starship is scheduled to launch Thursday. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)© The Associated Press Starship is designed to be fully reusable. That’s why SpaceX wants to control the booster’s entry into the gulf and the spacecraft’s descent into the Indian Ocean — it’s intended as practice for planned future landings. Nothing is being recovered from Thursday’s flight. A bird takes flight past SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)© The Associated Press NASA has ordered a pair of Starships for two moon-landing missions by astronauts, on tap for later this decade. Each moon crew will rely on NASA’s own rocket and capsule to leave Earth, but meet up with Starship in lunar orbit for the ride down to the surface. SpaceX already is selling tourist trips around the moon. The first private lunar customer, a Japanese tycoon, pulled out of the trip with his entourage last week, citing the oft-delayed schedule. Related video: SpaceX's 4th Starship Flight To Stream Exclusively On X As Elon Musk Consolidates Tech Empire (Benzinga) Loaded: 34.10% Play Current Time 0:02 / Duration 0:52 Quality Settings Captions Fullscreen Benzinga SpaceX's 4th Starship Flight To Stream Exclusively On X As Elon Musk Consolidates Tech Empire Unmute 0 View on Watch SpaceX’s founder and CEO has grander plans: Musk envisions fleets of Starships launching people and the infrastructure necessary to build a city on Mars. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Not good news for Boeing. I wonder if the thruster problem will have a negative effect for their return flight? Boeing’s new capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, delayed by last-minute thruster trouble that almost derailed the docking for this first test flight with astronauts. The 260-mile-high (420-kilometer-high) linkup culminated more than a day of continuing drama for Boeing’s astronaut flight debut. The Starliner capsule already had one small helium leak when it rocketed into orbit with two NASA astronauts Wednesday. Boeing and NASA managers were confident they could manage the propulsion system despite the problem and that more leaks were unlikely. But just hours into the flight, two more leaks cropped up. Later, four of the capsule's 28 thrusters went down. NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams managed to restart three of them, providing enough safety margin to proceed. By then, Starliner had passed up the first docking opportunity and circled the world for an extra hour alongside the station before moving in. It was not immediately known whether the thrusters problems were related to the earlier leaks. Earlier in the day, before the thrusters malfunctioned, Boeing spokesman Jim May said the leaks posed no safety issues for the astronauts or the mission. May said the capsule holds plenty of helium reserves to make up for what's lost. The propulsion system will be disabled once the capsule is docked at the space station since the thrusters will not be needed then, he noted. Helium is used to pressurize the fuel lines of Starliner’s thrusters, which are essential for maneuvering. Before liftoff, engineers devised a plan to work around any additional leaks in the system. A faulty rubber seal, no bigger than a shirt button, is believed responsible for the original leak. After the space shuttles retired, NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX’s taxi service began in 2020. Boeing was supposed to start around the same time, but was held up for years by safety concerns and other troubles. Boeing plans to keep Starliner at the space station for at least eight days before guiding it to a landing in the western U.S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deicer Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 It will be interesting to see if the capsule comes back next week manned, or unmanned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airband Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 William Anders, Apollo 8 astronaut who took Earthrise photo, killed in plane crash Anders died at age 90 in Friday crash Photo of Earth from lunar orbit - Dec 24, 1968, taken by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders Fri Jun 07, 2024 - Associated Press Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968. Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders, who took the iconic Earthrise photo, has been killed in a plane crash in Washington state. (NASA) Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90. His son, Greg Anders, confirmed the death to The Associated Press. "The family is devastated," Greg Anders said. "He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly." 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.O. Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 I know many will say he died doing what he loved, but to still be flying at age 90 seems a little stubborn and selfish to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo32a Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 He was 90 years old, he was never going to survive those g forces, he went out on purpose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 Does not bode well for their return, I guess they need to replenish the helium so they can rely on their thrusters...... n the heels of a successful launch last week, the return of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to Earth from the International Space Station has been delayed until at least next week. On June 5, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore made history taking Boeing's Starliner on its maiden crewed mission. The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in eastern Florida at 10:52 a.m. EDT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deicer Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 5 hours ago, Malcolm said: Does not bode well for their return, I guess they need to replenish the helium so they can rely on their thrusters...... n the heels of a successful launch last week, the return of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to Earth from the International Space Station has been delayed until at least next week. On June 5, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore made history taking Boeing's Starliner on its maiden crewed mission. The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in eastern Florida at 10:52 a.m. EDT Do you think they are taking the time to arrange alternate transport for the two astronauts meaning they would have the Starliner capsule return empty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 On 6/11/2024 at 1:22 PM, deicer said: Do you think they are taking the time to arrange alternate transport for the two astronauts meaning they would have the Starliner capsule return empty? The latest update is june 22nd. The latest update.https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/technology/boeing-starliner-set-for-june-22-undocking-return-to-earth-nasa-says/ar-BB1oemPf?ocid=msedgntp&pc=W069&cvid=40f8b17e6d5c4fe1aaef530bf1cfe6f7&ei=16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 Two astronauts wait to come home as Boeing’s spaceflight reputation hangs in the balance Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft was set to mark its crowning achievement this month: Ferrying two NASA astronauts on a round trip to the International Space Station, proving the long-delayed and over-budget capsule is up for the task. Starliner is halfway to that goal. But the two veteran astronauts piloting this test flight are now in a tentative position — extending their stay aboard the space station for a second time while engineers on the ground scramble to learn more about issues that plagued the first leg of their journey. Spaceflight veterans Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore arrived at the space station aboard the Starliner on June 6. NASA initially projected their stay would last about a week. But troubles the vehicle experienced en route, including helium leaks and thrusters that abruptly stopped working, have raised questions about how the back half of the mission will play out. Williams and Wilmore will now return no earlier than June 26, NASA announced Tuesday, stretching their mission to at least 20 days as engineers race to gain a better understanding of the spacecraft’s problems while it’s safely attached to the space station. Officials have said there is no reason to believe Starliner won’t be able to bring the astronauts back home, though “we really want to work through the remainder of the data,” said Steve Stich, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, at a Tuesday news conference. Meanwhile, Boeing has sought to frame the mission as a success and learning opportunity, albeit one that has left the Starliner team grappling with the “unplanned” side of the mission, as Mark Nappi, Boeing’s vice president and program manager of the Starliner program, put it Tuesday. It’s not uncommon for astronauts to unexpectedly extend their stay aboard the space station — for days, weeks or even months. (NASA has also said the Starliner can spend up to 45 days at the orbiting laboratory if needed, according to Stich.) But the situation makes for a moment of uncertainty and embarrassment that joins a long list of similar blunders by the Boeing Starliner program, which is already years behind schedule. It also adds to a chorus of unfavorable news that has followed Boeing as a company for some time. A nail-biting finale Boeing and NASA engineers said they are opting to leave Starliner — and with it, Williams and Wilmore — aboard the station longer than expected primarily to carry out additional analysis. The helium leaks and thruster issues occurred on a part of the vehicle that is not intended to survive the trip home from space, so mission teams are delaying the spacecraft’s return as part of a last-ditch effort to learn everything they can about what went wrong. Danger looms any time a spacecraft returns home from orbit. It is perhaps the most perilous stretch of any mission to space. The trip will require the Starliner to hit Earth’s thick atmosphere while traveling more than 22 times the speed of sound. The process will bake the spacecraft’s exterior at roughly 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, a set of parachutes — which Boeing redesigned and tested as recently as January — must safely slow the capsule down before it reaches terra firma. (Starliner will be the first US-made capsule to parachute to a landing on the ground rather than splash down in the ocean. Boeing hopes that approach will make it easier to recover and refurbish the Starliner after flight.) A series of setbacks Starliner’s journey to this historic crewed test mission began in 2014 when NASA tapped both Boeing and SpaceX to develop a spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts to the International Space Station. At the time, Boeing was seen as the stalwart aerospace giant that would likely get the job done first while SpaceX was the unpredictable newcomer. Over the past decade, however, tides have shifted. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft safely completed its first crewed mission — which appeared to go off without a hitch — in 2020. And the vehicle has been regularly flying astronauts and paying customers since. The two astronauts that piloted Crew Dragon’s inaugural flight — Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley — also stayed aboard the space station longer than expected, notching more than 60 days rather than the brief stint expected on such test flights. But Hurley and Behnken’s stay was extended so that the astronauts could lend a hand with daily activities aboard the space station, which at the time was understaffed. The extension did not directly relate to specific software or hardware problems with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. Spacecraft issues, on the other hand, have marred Boeing’s Starliner program practically every step of the way. The vehicle has faced years of delays, setbacks and added expenses that have cost the company more than $1 billion, according to public financial records. The first Starliner test mission, flown without crew in late 2019, was riddled with missteps. The vehicle misfired in orbit, a symptom of software problems that included a coding error that set an internal clock off by 11 hours. A second uncrewed flight test in 2022 uncovered additional software issues and trouble with some of the vehicle’s thrusters. Stich, the NASA program manager, indicated during a June 6 news conference that it’s possible engineers may not have completely resolved those issues from 2022. “We thought we had fixed that problem,” Stich said, adding, “I think we’re missing something fundamental that’s going on inside the thruster.” Michael Lembeck, an aerospace engineering associate professor of practice at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who was a consultant for Boeing’s spaceflight division from 2009 to 2014, told CNN that it would be difficult to determine whether additional ground tests may have caught the thruster issues at hand. But Lembeck emphasized that evaluating the success of this test mission is not as simple as comparing it directly with the inaugural crewed test flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. For example, he said, SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule — a director predecessor of Crew Dragon — completed more than a decade of uncrewed cargo missions to the space station before Crew Dragon took flight. “SpaceX did have a head start with the cargo program,” Lembeck said. “I think they do have an advantage that Boeing did not have. Boeing’s kind of having to build a crew vehicle all up from scratch.” Should this Starliner test mission encounter additional setbacks, however, it could put Boeing in a situation where it must rely on its rival to get Williams and Wilmore home. “The embarrassing backup is that a Crew Dragon would have to go and retrieve the astronauts,” Lembeck said. The spacecraft “could be sent up with two crew members and sent back with four — and that would probably be the way home.” Boeing’s broader problems Boeing executives have repeatedly sought to make clear that the Starliner program operates independently from the company’s other units — including the commercial aircraft division that has been at the center of scandals for years. “We have humans flying on this vehicle. We always take that so seriously,” Nappi said during a news briefing in April before Starliner took flight. Nappi at the time also declared that the Starliner team was operating at “peak performance” and “really looking forward to executing” a safe mission. When asked about that assertion on Tuesday, Stich, the NASA executive, said that officials at Boeing and NASA had always expected to find additional issues that needed to be hashed out during this test flight. Williams had alluded to that expectation during a pre-flight news conference, saying, “We always find stuff, and we are going to continually find stuff. “Everything’s not going to be absolutely perfect as we fly the spacecraft. …We feel very safe and comfortable with how this spacecraft flies, and we have backup procedures in case we need those,” Williams said. Stitch, however, acknowledged on Tuesday that Boeing and NASA might have been able to prevent some of the hangups the Starliner has encountered: “Perhaps we could have done different testing on the ground to characterize some of (the thruster issues) ahead of time,” he said. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deicer Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 I still think the odds are fairly even that the capsule is going to return empty. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 US family seeks damages from Nasa after space debris hits home 54 minutes ago By Rachel Looker, BBC News, Washington Share 0:49 'Almost hit my son' - Space junk crashes through Florida home A Florida family whose home was hit by space debris earlier this year is seeking compensation from US space agency Nasa for property damage and mental anguish. The 1.6lb (0.7kg) metal object punched a hole in the roof through two layers of ceiling in Alejandro Otero's home in Naples, this past March. Nasa had said the object was part of some 5,800lbs of hardware that was dumped by the International Space Station after it had new lithium-ion batteries installed. Mr Otero said his son was nearly injured by the impact. A press release from the law firm Cranfill Summer lists damages including non-insured property damage loss, business interruption, emotional/mental anguish and the costs for assistance from third parties. Attorney Mica Nguyen Worthy said space debris "is a real serious issue because of the increase in space traffic in recent years". "My clients are seeking adequate compensation to account for the stress and impact that this event had on their lives," she said in a statement. Mr Otero told CBS affiliate Wink-TV that the device created a "tremendous sound" as it blasted into his home. "I was shaking. I was completely in disbelief. What are the chances of something landing on my house with such force to cause so much damage," Mr Otero said. The debris was determined to be part of a stanchion used to mount batteries on a cargo pallet. "The hardware was expected to fully burn up during entry through Earth's atmosphere on March 8, 2024. However, a piece of hardware survived and impacted a home in Naples, Florida," the agency said. The ISS will "perform a detailed investigation" on how the debris survived burn-up, according to Nasa. The agency has six months to respond to the Otero's claims. Space junk has been a growing a problem. In April, sky watchers in California spotted mysterious golden streaks moving through the space. US officials later determined that the light show was caused by burning debris from a Chinese rocket re-entering earth's orbit. In February, a Chinese satellite known as "Object K" burned up as it re-entered the atmosphere over Hawaii. Last year, a barnacle-covered giant metal dome found on a Western Australian beach was identified as a component of an Indian rocket. There are plans to display it alongside chunks of Nasa's Skylab, which crashed in Australia in 1979. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 On 6/20/2024 at 5:03 AM, deicer said: I still think the odds are fairly even that the capsule is going to return empty. NASA astronauts 'stranded' in space due to flawed Boeing Starliner©Provided by Daily Mail NASA has delayed the return of two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) for the third time, raising concerns the crew could be 'stranded.' Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were initially scheduled for a nine-day stay, which was pushed back twice this month and now sits at an undetermined date. The extended stay is to allow more time for review of technical issues encountered, including thruster failures and leaking valves, Boeing said in a statement. DailyMail.com spoke to experts who said that NASA could be forced to launch a rescue mission, and could tap Elon Musk 's SpaceX to carry it out.Katsuo Kurabayashi, professor of aerospace engineering at New York University said: 'Given the current situation with the Starliner, it is possible that NASA could decide to use an alternative spacecraft, like SpaceX's Crew Dragon, to bring the astronauts home safely. 'As far as I can tell at this point, the recent delay of the mission to July alone shouldn't raise serious concerns leading to another highly challenging rescue mission or the future abandonment of Starliner-based missions. 'But if they start talking about a rescue mission by chance, it would indicate that there are some serious, potentially life-threatening hardware defects found with Starliner.' 'Additionally, given the duration of the mission, it is appropriate for us to complete an agency-level review, similar to what was done ahead of the NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 return after two months on orbit, to document the agency’s formal acceptance on proceeding as planned.' Starliner took off at on June 5 at 10:52am ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida last week with the same leak that forced a scrub in May. The capsule, however, launched with a known leak that was reportedly no larger than a shirt button and quite thin. Stich said last month that he was confident 27 out of these 28 thrusters were working properly, free of leaks or other issues. However, Starliner encountered five failures of its 28 maneuvering thrusters, five leaks of helium gas meant to pressurize those thrusters and a slow-moving propellant valve that signaled unfixed past issues since launching. When Starliner arrived in the space station's vicinity to dock on June 6, the five thruster failures prevented a close approach by the spacecraft until Boeing made a fix. It rewrote software and tweaked some procedures to revive four of them and proceed with a docking. Starliner's undocking and return to Earth represent the spacecraft's most complicated phases of its test mission. Boeing has spent $1.5 billion in cost overruns beyond its $4.5-billion NASA development contract. NASA officials have said they want to better understand the cause of the thruster failures, valve issue and helium leaks before Starliner begins its return. While just one thruster remains dead in Starliner's current flight, Boeing encountered four thruster problems during the capsule's uncrewed return from space in 2022. NASA astronauts 'stranded' in space due to flawed Boeing Starliner (msn.com) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 NASA calls off spacewalk at last minute as astronaut suit malfunctions /content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2024/6/24/nasa-astronauts-tracy-dyson-and-mike-barratt-1-6938751-1719249538496.jpgNASA astronauts Tracy Dyson and Mike Barratt (foreground, from left) in white spacesuits, abandoned plans for a spacewalk on June 24 because of a leak in Dyson's suit. (NASA via CNN Newsource) Jackie Wattles CNN Digital Contact Published June 24, 2024 11:19 a.m. MDT Share Link X Reddit LinkedIn Email Two U.S. astronauts abandoned plans to exit the International Space Station to conduct maintenance on Monday due to a spacesuit malfunction. NASA officials called off the spacewalk because of a water leak in the cooling unit of one of the astronauts’ spacesuits. Top science and technology headlines, all in one place The leak, which affected the suit donned by NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, sprang up just after the suits were transferred to battery power just before they exited the space station. RELATED STORIES Astronauts' return delayed again as Boeing and NASA try to learn more about spacecraft issues Scientists may have found an answer to the mystery of dark matter. It involves an unexpected byproduct Canada joins NASA asteroid impact exercise, new satellite to hunt for planet-killers The cooling unit on the spacesuits are designed to keep the wearers at a comfortable temperature while carrying out their work. Dyson and her crewmate Mike Barratt were set to remove a faulty electronics box from a communications antenna on the space station’s exterior. “Right now, I’m comfortable, but I do feel a little warm,” Dyson was heard saying on a live stream of the event after the spacewalk was called off around 9 a.m. ET. Dyson later expressed concern that the water leak may have affected electrical connectors. “There’s still water shooting out,” Dyson said at one point. “We can assume that water got into that connector, electrical connector.” NASA then worked to get Dyson back inside the space station from the airlock, the gateway to the space station’s exterior, while her suit remained on battery power. The crew was not in danger at any point during the incident, according to NASA. The spacewalk was set to kick off Monday morning and last about 6.5 hours, according to NASA. The delayed spacewalk is only the latest in a string of setbacks around operations on the International Space Station in recent weeks. This marks the second spacewalk in recent days that has been abruptly called off due to spacesuit issues. Officials called off a spacewalk slated for June 13, which included Dyson and Matthew Dominick, because of “a spacesuit discomfort issue” with Dominick’s spacesuit. NASA declined to provide more details about the issue to protect the astronaut’s privacy. In addition to the aborted Monday spacewalk, the federal agency has been aiming to carry out another on July 2 — before giving Boeing’s Starliner capsule the green light to undock from the orbiting laboratory and make its return home. The Starliner spacecraft has been on its first crewed test flight to the space station. But the vehicle encountered several key issues during the first leg of its trip, including springing helium leaks and experiencing thruster outages, that have delayed its return. It’s not yet clear whether the decision to call off Monday’s spacewalk will further delay Starliner’s return Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deicer Posted Wednesday at 01:58 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 01:58 PM https://youtu.be/GohALjtLyPE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deicer Posted 17 hours ago Share Posted 17 hours ago Seems that the Starliner return is now 'indefinite'. According to this article, Boeing and NASA will be conducting testing at White Sands starting July 2nd for two weeks, then who knows how long it will be until they analyze the results? https://www.space.com/nasa-boeing-starliner-crew-flight-test-mission-delays-webcast A test campaign will start as soon as July 2 at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico to replicate how the thrusters were used during the flight, NASA commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said during a livestreamed update today (June 28) with reporters. The testing will take approximately two weeks, but that depends on what is found — and more analysis will be required afterwards. As such, NASA and Boeing do not yet have a landing date for Starliner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted 14 hours ago Share Posted 14 hours ago Just imagine if Avro Canada had been allowed to prosper. Avro Canada C.102 Jetliner | Canada Aviation and Space Museum (ingeniumcanada.org) Avro Canada - Wikipedia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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