by The team of Boeing Starliner Spacecraft said on Wednesday that they are confident the capsule will carry them safely back to Earth at the end of their long stay aboard the International Space Station, despite a helium leak in the ship’s propulsion system and trouble with maneuverable flippers.
Posted June 5, Barry “Butch” Wilmore’s commander and co-pilot Sunita Williams it was originally expected to spend about eight days in space, which would advance the Starliner in the ship’s first pilot test flight.
But the helium leaks and thruster problems have prompted NASA to stay aboard the space station indefinitely – Wednesday marked the 35th day in orbit – while engineers conduct tests and analysis to better understand what caused the problems and to ensure that the spacecraft can be safe. be Wilmore and Williams home.
Meanwhile, NASA insists the crew is not “stuck” in space, and both Wilmore and Williams, speaking to reporters for the first time since its launch, seemed to agree with that assessment.
“I think where we are right now, and what we know right now, and how the spacecraft flew as it came in to dock, I’m pretty sure if we had to, if there was a problem there with the International Space Station. , we can get into our spaceship and we can unlock, talk to our crew, and figure out the best way to get home,” Williams said.
“I have a really good feeling in my heart that this spacecraft will take us home, no problem,” she said. “We are now learning how to optimize our specific situation and make sure we know everything.”
When asked about his faith in the Starliner, Wilmore said “we are very confident.”
“We’re actually doing a thruster test as we speak at White Sands, New Mexico, trying to replicate (the problems) we saw in preparation,” he said. “And we’re going to learn from that. And we’re going to incorporate new processes, new procedures that we’ll use if necessary.”
But to be on the safe side, Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said the team is “dusting off” plans that were first developed when the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that carried NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the refrigerant leakage station.
In that case, preliminary plans were drawn up to bring Rubio down on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule if worse came to worse. As it turned out, the Russians sent a replacement Soyuz and those plans were not needed.
“In that case, we decided to use Dragon as a contingency return option for Frank … to use it as a lifeboat,” Stich said. “We had a configuration of Frank in the middle of Dragon. I mean, sure we have dusted off some of the things to look at compared to Starliner, but be prepared.
“But again, our main option is to bring Butch back to Suni on Starliner. … We’re pretty far away from where we were with the Soyuz. We just want to understand the thrusters a little more before we commit to the final game and back.”
“Having time” in orbit after multiple delays
In the meantime, Williams said she and Wilmore are enjoying the extra time in space.
“We’re having a great time here on ISS,” she said. “You know, Butch and I have been up here before, and it feels like … coming back home. It feels good to float around. It feels good to be in space and working up here with the International Space Station team.
“So yeah, it’s great to be up here,” she said. “So I’m not complaining, Butch isn’t complaining that we’re here for a few extra weeks.”
Running four years behind schedule, the Starliner launched June 5, a month later than planned due to minor problems with the crew’s Atlas 5 booster, trouble with a countdown computer and a small helium leak in service module aft of the capsule. Helium is used to pressurize the Starliner’s propulsion system so that jets can fire as needed.
After extensive analysis, NASA and Boeing managers determined that the leak did not pose a safety threat and the Starliner was cleared for launch as is.
Once in orbit and en route to the space station, however, four more helium leaks developed. In addition, the Starliner’s flight computer took some maneuvering jets that seemed to crash out of line when the telemetry did not match preset operating parameters.
One thruster was deemed unusable going forward, but the others were later successfully tested. That “fire” test gave engineers confidence that the jets needed for post-launch maneuvers, and to keep the Starliner steady during the critical deorbit rocket firing, will work as needed to arrange ship for re-entry.
The thrusters in question were facing the sun during long stretches of the Starliner’s approach to the station and engineers suspect that the previous problems were related to high temperatures and the rapidity of the firing. during the final approach. They are trying to replicate those conditions in the ground test.
As for the helium leaks, the propulsion system is not used when going to the space station. The system was pressurized for the hot fire test, but otherwise valves were closed as always intended to isolate the helium tanks, thus eliminating further leakage.
The system will be reset to unlock it so that the necessary maneuvers can come home. But engineers have said the tanks hold 10 times more helium than needed for the return trip, providing a comfortable margin even if any of the known leaks worsened.
“I think we will still test before we unlock, first open the helium valves and then second when we unlock to make sure everything is working properly, as planned from what they found out during of the thruster test,” Williams said. “So I trust, Butch trusts.”
All the hardware involved is housed in the Starliner service module, which is launched just before atmospheric entry. Therefore, engineers will not be able to personally examine the equipment. Williams said it only made sense to extend the mission to do as much testing as possible before coming home.
“If we just came home, we’d lose the SM (service module) and then we wouldn’t be able to go through all this testing and understand our spacecraft,” she said.
Stich did not say when the crew might be cleared to de-dock. The next Crew Dragon crew rotation flight is scheduled to launch in mid-August and “a few days before that launch opportunity, we would have to get Butch and Suni home on Starliner.”
“So that’s kind of the end,” he said. “We are really working to try to follow the data and see when the earliest we could focus on unlocking and landing. I think some of the data suggests, perhaps optimistically, that it is about end of July. But we’ll have to follow the details (and) figure out when the right opportunity is to disengage.”
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