More than 50 days into a mission originally scheduled to last 10 days, NASA and Boeing officials say they are working to prepare for an agency review this week of the flight readiness of Boeing’s Starliner space capsule, which suffered multiple problems during its first crewed flight to the International Space Station launched June 5.
After a test firing of the Starliner capsule’s docked thrusters Saturday, and weeks of ground testing to identify problems with the small propulsion devices that help the spacecraft navigate and maneuver, mission managers said they were ready to assemble and submit the collected data for review. They expressed optimism that the spacecraft would be able to return veteran NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to Earth on a long-delayed mission.
“My job is to provide a safe vehicle for the crew to return,” Mark Nappi, Boeing’s vice president and director of commercial crew programs, said at a news conference Thursday. “I’m confident we have a good vehicle to bring the crew back. We need to take the next steps to show that information to everyone.”
Previous NASA reports have detailed that five of the 28 maneuvering thrusters failed to perform as expected during Starliner’s docking with the space station on June 6. Engineers also identified five small helium leaks, some of which were detected before the spacecraft launched. Helium is used in the firing procedure for the capsule’s thrusters. These problems led to a series of delays for Starliner’s return flight.
Ground tests at NASA’s White Sands Test Center in New Mexico attempted to recreate the conditions that led to the thruster failures. While four of the failed units have been returned to service and appear to be operating within designed parameters, one of the thrusters was shut down for the remainder of the mission. Officials believe the thruster failures were the result of unexpected levels of heat production and have identified a number of potential causes that they are continuing to investigate.
When will Starliner return to Earth?
If the capsule is given the green light after the agency’s review process, Starliner could be ready for a return flight in August. If the spacecraft is deemed unsafe to bring Williams and Wilmore back, NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich noted that there are backup plans in place, thanks to SpaceX’s Dragon Crew Capsule program, which has flown nearly a dozen missions carrying astronauts to and from the ISS.
“Obviously, the luxury of our current program … is that we have two different systems that we’re flying,” Stich said at last week’s press conference. “I’d rather not get into all those details until we get to that point, if we ever get to that point, about what we plan to do, but the advantage of having Dragon and Starliner, two different space transportation systems, is that we can kind of use them as backup systems.”
Both Stich and Nappi have previously said that Starliner has been authorized to be used as an emergency return vehicle, should an unforeseen event occur at the space station that requires an evacuation, and that the primary option is for Williams and Wilmore to return aboard Boeing’s capsule. There are currently six spacecraft docked to the ISS, including Starliner, and two of them, the SpaceX Dragon and the Russian Soyuz MS-25, are capable of returning astronauts to Earth in addition to Starliner.
Early in Starliner’s mission, Dugway Proving Ground in Utah was considered the primary landing site, but it’s unclear whether the western desert will still be at the top of the list for the capsule’s return. Other possible landing sites include two targets in the vast White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and Willcox, Arizona, according to NASA. Edwards Air Force Base in California is available as an emergency landing site.
