Boeing Starliner attached to International Space Station. Coming home empty?
Image credit: NASA

 

NASA held another in a series of media briefings on August 14, providing an update on the continuing, complex, and sometimes confusing Boeing Crew Flight Test.

Bottom line from NASA: “Mission managers continue to evaluate the Starliner spacecraft’s readiness in advance of decisional meetings no earlier than next week regarding the return of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.”

Engineering lingo

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test launched on June 5 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Boeing “Doghouse” unit containing thrusters.
Image credit: Boeing

Wilmore and Williams arrived at the International Space Station on June 5 for their pre-ordained eight day mission before returning to Earth.

For Boeing, they are literally in the “doghouse” – perhaps unfortunate engineering lingo — because “doghouses” are where Starliner’s control thrusters are located that proved troublesome.

Both Boeing and NASA teams are trying to figure out why multiple thrusters on the good ship “Calypso” failed during docking.

NASA astronauts Suni Williams (left) and Butch Wilmore during pre-launch Boeing Starliner spacecraft simulator workout at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Image credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz

 

Partnership

The Crew Flight Test is an end-to-end test of the Starliner system as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program – a partnership with American private industry to open the aperture wider to low Earth orbit and the space station to more people, science, and commercial opportunities.

Yesterday’s briefing by NASA involved:  

— Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate

— Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate

— Russ DeLoach, chief, NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance

— NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba

— Emily Nelson, chief flight director, NASA’s Flight Operations Directorate

Image credit: Land landing of Starliner.
Image credit: Boeing

Their titles give you an idea of what’s underway at NASA as it plots a course of action regarding the troubled Starliner and how best to bring back its two-person crew safe and sound back to terra firma.

Go/no-go

Forthcoming is a NASA go/no-go on returning Starliner stuffed with a crew or perhaps empty. Perhaps SpaceX and its Dragon spacecraft might serve as a “rescue option” for returning Wilmore and Williams.

But then there are other complications.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams, wearing Boeing spacesuits.
Image crrdit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

“The Boeing suit is made to work with the Starliner spacecraft and the SpaceX suit is made to work with the Dragon spacecraft. Both were designed to fit the unique nature of their respective spacecraft,” responded NASA spokesperson Steven Siceloff to my Inside Outer Space question via email.

Also, there have been reports that the Starliner can’t fly home without a crew. But that appears not to be the case.

SpaceX Dragon astronauts and their spacesuits. Doug Hurley (left), and Robert Behnken ready for departure on Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission on May 30, 2020.
Image credit: NASA TV/Inside Outer Space

“Starliner flies autonomously and can fly itself back – it did that during OFT-2 [an uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 of Starliner back in May 2022.] There are details that are specific to the mission that have to be updated but the overall system is built for the autonomous flight,” Siceloff added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

High drama

All of this high drama is coming to closure, perhaps prior to the end of this month.

So stay tuned…

In the meantime, give a listen to the recent media briefing: NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (Aug. 14, 2024) in replay mode on Youtube at:

 

BTW: Here are my early musings about this evolving situation looking for a solution:

Starliner’s Saga: Tuning in the “Uncertainty Band”

https://www.leonarddavid.com/starliners-saga-tuning-in-the-uncertainty-band/

Boeing Starliner: NASA’s “Deposit, No-return” Decision?

https://www.leonarddavid.com/boeing-starliner-nasas-deposit-no-return-decision/

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