Atlas 5 rocket launch approaches transport the astronauts For the first time, scrubbing occurred less than two hours before launch.Everything was ready for Monday night's explosion. Boeing's long-delayed Starliner A crew ferry ship placed into orbit for the first manned test flight to the International Space Station.
Valve problems in the rocket's upper stage caused the delay.
Years behind schedule and more than $1 billion over budget, Starliner is Boeing's answer to SpaceX's Crew Dragon. The Crew Dragon is an operational spacecraft that has carried 50 astronauts, cosmonauts, and civilians into orbit on 13 flights, and 12 of them to the space station.
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NASA funded the development of both spacecraft to ensure that even if one company's ferry ship ran aground for some reason, NASA would be able to send a crew to the outpost.
Astronaut ready for launch
It took longer than expected for Boeing to get the ship ready for crew flight, but all systems are scheduled to launch from Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:34 p.m. EDT. Ta.
The controller becomes the mission commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita WilliamsA veteran Navy test pilot and active NASA astronaut, he has completed four previous spaceflights, including 11 spacewalks and a total of 500 days in orbit.
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Although the first flight is somewhat riskier than an operational mission, Starliner, like SpaceX's Crew Dragon, is equipped with a “full envelope” abort system, meaning that a major failure anywhere on the spacecraft could result in a critical failure. Even in this case, the capsule can be quickly propelled from the booster. Place the launch pad into orbit.
But if all goes well, Atlas 5's Centaur upper stage will put Starliner into a preliminary orbit 15 minutes after liftoff. The astronauts then monitor two rapid thruster fires to fine-tune the ship's trajectory, then take turns testing the spacecraft's computer-aided manual control system.
As with other space station rendezvous, Starliner will approach the lab from behind and below, looping to a point just in front of the outpost before docking at the forward port of the Harmony module at 12:46 a.m. Wednesday. move for.
During the final approach, Wilmore and Williams will again test the capsule's manual controls to ensure that future crew members can use their discretion to fine-tune the trajectory and orientation of the spacecraft as needed.
Starliner is also equipped with a fully manual backup system that allows the crew to bypass the spacecraft's flight computer and directly control the ship's thrusters using a joystick-like hand controller. Wilmore and Williams plan to test the system after leaving the station around May 15 to begin the return journey to Earth.
If Starliner's test flight goes well, NASA administrators will certify it for regular crew rotation flights, launching one Crew Dragon and one Starliner each year to accommodate six long-term crews. He hopes to deliver it to the station for a lunar mission tour.
“Absolutely important milestone”
Jim Free, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, called the Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) “an absolutely significant milestone.”
“I want to remind everyone again: this is a new spacecraft,” he told reporters last week. “There are certainly some unknowns in this mission and we may encounter unexpected events, but our job now is to remain vigilant and continue to look for problems.”
Free said he was confident Starliner could carry out the mission, but said he didn't want to “move too far” because the crew had yet to successfully complete the mission. But, he added, “if we certify Starliner, the United States will have two unique human space vehicles that will provide critical redundancy for access to the ISS.”
But it wasn't easy.
Following the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, NASA awarded two commercial crew program contracts in 2014, one worth $2.6 billion to SpaceX and another worth $4.2 billion to Boeing. , which encouraged the development of independent spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts back and forth. International Space Station.
The target date for the first CCP flight was 2017. Development was delayed due to lack of funding in Congress and technical issues, and an explosion during a ground test destroyed SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
But the California rocket manufacturer finally began manned flights in May 2020, successfully launching two NASA astronauts to the space station on a Crew Dragon test flight.
Since then, SpaceX has launched eight operational crew rotation flights to the station and three research missions to the lab, funded by the Houston-based space agency. axiomatic space and purely commercial, a journey of two men and two women into low Earth orbit paid for by billionaire pilot and businessman Jared Isaacman. A total of 50 people flew into orbit aboard Crew Dragon.
Boeing's Starliner is a different story.
During the first unpiloted test flight in December 2019, a software error prevented the ship's flight computer from reading the correct launch time from its counterpart onboard Atlas 5.
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As a result, the required orbital entry burn did not occur as planned, and unrelated communications problems prevented flight controllers from regaining control in time to proceed with the space station rendezvous.
The software issue was addressed after Starliner landed, as well as various other issues revealed during the post-flight review. Boeing chose to conduct a second test flight at its own expense, but a propulsion system valve jammed in Starliner's service module. Engineers were unable to resolve the problem, and the capsule was removed from Atlas 5 and returned to a processing facility for troubleshooting.
Engineers eventually determined that the problem was caused by moisture, likely from high humidity and heavy rain after deployment on the pad, reacting chemically with the thruster propellant to form corrosion. Corrosion prevented the valve from opening as commanded.
To clear the way for launch next May, valves on the new service module were replaced and systems modified to prevent water from entering the launch pad. Starliner's second test flight in May 2022 was successful, docking at the space station as planned and returning to Earth with a pinpoint landing.
However, after the flight, engineers discovered a new problem. This was due to problems with the parachute harness connector and concerns that the protective tape wrapped around the wiring could cause a fire in the event of a short circuit.
Work to fix these issues has delayed the first crewed flight from 2023 to 2024. When all was said and done, Boeing had spent more than $1 billion of his own money for additional test flights and corrective actions.
