Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on Friday evening and return to Earth without its crew. The astronauts the ill-fated capsule were supposed to carry home will now be stranded until a SpaceX rescue mission can be launched.
The New York Times reports that the Boeing Starliner spacecraft is set to leave the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday evening, leaving behind the two NASA astronauts it transported to the orbiting laboratory three months ago. The spacecraft is scheduled to undock and begin its journey back to Earth, with a planned parachute landing at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico approximately six hours later.
The decision to have the astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, remain on the ISS for an additional five months stems from the propulsion system issues that Starliner encountered during its approach to the station in June. Despite lengthy analysis and ground tests, NASA officials stated that they do not fully comprehend the cause of these problems. However, both Boeing and NASA have expressed confidence in Starliner’s ability to safely return to Earth without its crew, citing successful landings during previous uncrewed test flights.
To ensure the safety of the astronauts, NASA opted to have Williams and Wilmore return to Earth in February aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. The astronauts have undergone training for an extended mission, including performing spacewalks and operating the robotic arm on the ISS.
For the return trip, Starliner will use a modified undocking procedure that involves short thruster pulses to quickly move away from the station, minimizing stress on the thrusters. The spacecraft will then position itself above the ISS before firing its larger thrusters to drop out of orbit and begin its descent. Although the larger thrusters have not experienced any issues thus far, the smaller thrusters, including those that malfunctioned during docking, serve as a backup for the deorbit maneuver.
The future of the Starliner program remains uncertain following this mission, which was intended to be the final step in NASA’s certification process for the spacecraft to begin regular crewed flights to the ISS. NASA may request that Boeing conduct another crewed flight test, similar to the company’s decision to redo an uncrewed flight test after experiencing technical difficulties during Starliner’s first launch in December 2019.
Boeing’s commitment to the Starliner program was recently reaffirmed by the company’s new chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, in a conversation with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. However, the delays and overruns associated with the program have come at a significant financial cost to Boeing, which has already written off $1.6 billion in costs related to Starliner under its fixed-price contract with NASA.
Read more at the New York Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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