The mission to return the spacecraft to Earth concludes a flight test to the International Space Station (ISS) that was unexpectedly extended to three months after Starliner experienced helium leaks and thruster malfunctions on June 6. 

The two astronauts aboard the Starliner—Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams—have since been staying on the ISS alongside the Expedition 71 crew. After weeks of in-space and ground testing, technical interchange meetings, and agency reviews, NASA announced in August that Wilmore and Williams would be returning via the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft next February.

• READ MORE: A Brief History of Astronauts Stuck in Space

A news release from NASA on Friday stated that its Commercial Crew Program requires a spacecraft to fly a crewed test flight to prove the system is ready for regular flights to and from the orbiting laboratory. The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the ISS and low Earth orbit.

Following Starliner’s return, the agency will review all mission-related data.

Ken Bowersox, the associate administrator for the space operations mission directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in the release that he was proud of his team’s work during the flight test and Starliner’s safe return.

“I am extremely proud of the work our collective team put into this entire flight test, and we are pleased to see Starliner’s safe return,” Bowersox said. “Even though it was necessary to return the spacecraft uncrewed, NASA and Boeing learned an incredible amount about Starliner in the most extreme environment possible. NASA looks forward to our continued work with the Boeing team to proceed toward certification of Starliner for crew rotation missions to the space station.”

The flight on June 5 was the first time astronauts launched aboard the Starliner. It was the third orbital flight of the spacecraft, and its second return from the orbiting laboratory. The spacecraft will now ship to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for inspection and processing.

“We are excited to have Starliner home safely,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, in the release. “This was an important test flight for NASA in setting us up for future missions on the Starliner system. There was a lot of valuable learning that will enable our long-term success. I want to commend the entire team for their hard work and dedication over the past three months.”

Bringing Starliner Home

As scheduled, Starliner departed from the ISS at 6:04 p.m. EDT Friday evening. 

The spacecraft’s 59-second deorbit burn went off without a hitch just over five hours later at 11:17 p.m. EDT. Despite initial concerns around the mutch-scrutinized aft-facing thrusters, telemetry visualization on NASA’s broadcast showed they appeared to fire as needed.

The service module separated and performed its disposal burn, and Starliner was then set to reenter the atmosphere and touch down around midnight. 

Live video taken from the ISS and two NASA chase planes showed the craft streaking through the atmosphere for a little under an hour before the ship touched down at White Sands Space Harbor at 12:01 a.m. EDT. Landing and recovery teams followed NASA’s previously published mission timeline plans, and the spacecraft was then on its way to Kennedy Space Center.

Following the mission, NASA hosted a live post-landing press conference to answer questions from journalists. Officials answering questions were Joel Mantalbano, deputy associate administrator for the space operations mission directorate at NASA Headquarters; Steve Stich, Commercial Crew Program manager at NASA Kennedy; and Dana Wiegel, International Space Station manager at NASA Johnson.

Stich said during the conference that Starliner executed a nominal breakout sequence.

“[It’s] the first time we’ve used that to back away from the station,” Stich said. “We backed out to about five meters and then did a series of about 12 burns using the service module 4 jets. After that sequence of maneuvers, we ended up opening at about 22 kilometers per rev away from the space station. All those thrusters did really well through that SEP [Solar Electric Propulsion] sequence, no problems at all. [There were] no fail-offs or any problems at all.”

He further stated that all eight of the Starliner’s forward thrusters and the two aft thrusters worked well during a hot fire.

“We had great performance from the GNC system, the guidance navigation control [and] the Vesta system,” Stich said. “Last fight on OFT2, we had a little bit of trouble with what we call a ‘calibration maneuver’ to really make sure that the attitude is good for this space integrated GPS INS system, and that went really well. We had a deorbit burn that executed on time at 11:17 p.m. central. It was about 130 meters per second, a 58 second burn. It was a really good burn and the service module thrusters performed well for that burn [and] the OMAX performed well.”

During the deorbit burn, Stich stated that the team noticed temperatures being a little higher in the top and starboard “dog houses.” He said that one of the thrusters—S2A2—didn’t fail off but had a little higher temperature than expected.

Stich said that Starliner performed great during entry, but one of the 12 thrusters—an upfiring thruster—did not perform at all during a hot fire before entry. He also said that the SIGI-3 navigation system failed off temporarily during landing. The SIGI-2 also had a couple of hiccups during entry that Stich said his team would be looking into.

What’s Next for NASA and Boeing?

Despite the change in mission plans over the last several months, Mantalbano said he would not describe this test flight as a mission failure.

“I would not call it a successful failure,” Mantalbano said. “We knew going in this was going to be a test mission. We learned a lot. The teams worked together, both the Boeing and the NASA team to understand the systems of the spacecraft and how they operated. The team worked together at White Sands to understand the analysis that was done. On the test mission, things don’t always go as you planned. And so we were prepared. The fact that this vehicle is home, we’re very happy to have the vehicle home. To me, [this was] a success. Clearly we [have] some work to do. The teams will understand that work and move forward.”

When asked if the next flight would be fully certified or another test flight, Stich said that it was too early to say.

“I think we wanna take the steps to go look at all the data,” Stich said. “Certainly our goal is to get to the rotation flight. Our goal all along has been to have one flight a year, one flight from Boeing Starliner, and another flight from SpaceX with Dragon. It’ll take a little time to determine the path forward. But today we saw the vehicle perform really well. We’ve got some things we know we’ve got to go work on, and we’ll go do that and fix those things, and then go fly when we’re ready.”

Stich said that one of the first things NASA will do when the Starliner is taken back to Kennedy Space Center will be analyzing the tracking data relay satellite to the ground from the recorded data onboard.

“With the test flight, we have a number of sensors across the systems that record data,” Stich said. “We’ll want to downlink all that high rate data and take a look at that data. And then it’s a series of analyzing all the data from the entry, the undocking and the deorbit across all the systems on the vehicle to just see if there’s anything that was off nominal. We’ll study the data at a little higher rate. So it will take a couple of weeks to get it back and a week or so to get the data off the spacecraft.

Several journalists present at NASA’s press conference asked why Boeing wasn’t in attendance to answer questions. Mantalbano answered that Boeing deferred to NASA because it represents the mission.

“I will tell you that Boeing has critical work that they do for NASA in the International Space Station Program, the Commercial Crew Program, and the Space Launch Systems Program,” Mantalbano said. “Their work is critical to our success, and we fully expect Boeing to continue all three of those programs.”

When asked again if the relationship between NASA and Boeing had been damaged, Mantalbano reaffirmed his previous statement.

“And I think from a human perspective, all of us feel happy about the successful landing, but then there’s a piece of us, all of us, that we wish it would have been the way we had planned it,” Stich said. “We had planned to have the mission land with Butch and Suni on board. I think there’s, depending on who you are on the team, different emotions associated with that. And I think it’s going to take a little time to work through that. For me, a little bit, and then for everybody else on the Boeing and NASA team.”

The post Boeing Starliner Returns Home Safely appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

But theirs is not the first mission to be unexpectedly lengthened or hit by unforeseen circumstances.

What Happened to Boeing Starliner?

Launched on June 5 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, Starliner’s Crew Flight Test (CFT) sought to evaluate the capabilities of the Boeing-built craft before NASA certifies it for regular International Space Station (ISS) astronaut rotation missions. It was scheduled to spend eight days at the ISS then return Wilmore and Williams to a parachute-aided homecoming in the western United States.

But shortly after liftoff, Starliner suffered multiple helium leaks and reaction control system thruster failures. With several thrusters critically sited on its disposable service module (which will burn up at mission’s end), NASA and Boeing repeatedly extended the flight to perform more tests and gather more data.

Days turned to weeks and weeks became months as testing and data-gathering took place in space and on Earth. The astronauts assessed Starliner’s habitability and functionality. The helium leaks slowly stabilized. And at White Sands in New Mexico, a Starliner thruster was rigorously test-fired to assess its performance and understand possible causes of the thruster failures in orbit. 

But it was not enough.

On August 24, NASA opted to return Starliner to Earth empty and keep the astronauts on the ISS until February. In a press conference, Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said that “the bottom line” was that “there was just too much uncertainty” in how the thrusters would behave. Wilmore and Williams’ homebound ride will instead be SpaceX’s four-seat Dragon Freedom, scheduled to launch on September 24 with two crew members and a pair of empty seats. It is scheduled to return to Earth—with Wilmore and Williams aboard—in February 2025.

Space Ride-Swapping

Over the decades, it has become a common practice for crew to return to Earth in a different spacecraft than the one that took them to space.  

The first instance came in January 1969 when, in a bid to grab some of the spotlight from the U.S. Moon-orbiting Apollo 8 weeks earlier, the Soviet Union achieved the first docking of two spacecraft. Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov piloted Soyuz 4 to rendezvous with Soyuz 5’s Boris Volynov, Alexei Yeliseyev, and Yevgeni Khrunov. After the two craft docked, Yeliseyev and Khrunov spacewalked over to Soyuz 4 and returned to Earth with Shatalov while Volynov landed alone.

From 1978, cosmonauts routinely swapped Soyuz capsules as visiting crews to the space stations Salyut 6, Salyut 7, and Mir left fresh ships for use by long-duration resident crews, then returned home in older ships approaching the end of their operational lifetimes. 

And after 1995, Soyuz cosmonauts began launching or landing on space shuttles and shuttle astronauts via Soyuz. Norm Thagard became the first American to launch and land in different ships—riding a Soyuz to Mir, then landing on space shuttle Atlantis. Between 1997 and 2009, several flyers launched to space on one member of NASA’s shuttle fleet and returned on another.

Stranded by the Shuttle

But missions lengthened by unforeseen factors are rarer. 

A notable character at the August 24 Starliner announcement was Ken Bowersox, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations. A former astronaut who flew four shuttle missions and commanded the ISS, he knows a thing or two about getting stranded far from home. 

On February 1, 2003, Bowersox was midway through a four-month stint aboard the ISS at the helm of Expedition 6, partnered with Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin and NASA astronaut Don Pettit. The crew planned to return home in mid-March aboard the space shuttle Atlantis. Days earlier, they made a ship-to-ship call with space shuttle Columbia, flying the STS-107 microgravity research mission. 

As the ISS flew over Ukraine and Columbia soared high above Brazil, Bowersox and STS-107 commander Rick Husband exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes. 

“Glad to see you guys made it into orbit,” said Bowersox. 

“We’re really excited to be able to talk to you guys,” replied Husband. “One big space lab to another big old space lab on that beautiful station of yours.” 

But Columbia would disintegrate during reentry on February 1, 2003, killing her entire crew, grounding the shuttle fleet and stalling construction of the half-built ISS.

“My first reaction was pure shock,” Bowersox said 11 days later. “I was numb and it was hard to believe what we were experiencing was really happening.” 

Mission Control adjusted Expedition 6’s schedule, furnishing the crew some time for reflection.

“When you’re up here for this long, you can’t just bottle up your emotions and focus all of the time,” said Bowersox. “Each of us had a chance to shed some tears.”  

With shuttles indefinitely grounded, getting Bowersox’s crew home proved problematic. An unoccupied ISS was hardly ideal but without regular shuttle visits normal operations were untenable. Two-person caretaker crews on six-month tours would keep the station functional until the shuttle returned to flight. 

The first such crew arrived in April and Expedition 6 came home on May 6—making Bowersox and Pettit the first Americans to launch on a U.S. shuttle and land in a Russian Soyuz. At 161 days, their tragedy-tinged voyage ran 30 percent longer than planned.

Other Extended Stays

Bowersox and Pettit weren’t the first to experience a significant hike in their mission’s duration.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, tanks rumbled into Moscow’s streets and Russia’s tricolor flag replaced the hammer and sickle fluttering over the Kremlin. And two cosmonauts were acutely aware of their once-proud nation’s crumbling future.

One of them, Sergei Krikalev, launched to Mir in May and was due home in October. But with the Baikonur launch base located in Kazakhstan, Russia feared the newly independent Kazakh government might nationalize or refuse access to it.

To placate them, a Kazakh guest cosmonaut was hastily added to the October Soyuz mission, forcing Krikalev to pull a double-length Mir mission of 10 months.

Sergei Krikalev departed Earth a citizen of the Soviet Union and returned to the Russian Federation.

In 1996, NASA’s Shannon Lucid saw her own four-month Mir stay protracted to six months due to shuttle launch delays. Her mission grew from 140 to 188 days, the longest ever flown by a woman. But Lucid also missed her son’s 21st birthday—illustrating spaceflight’s unpredictable impact on families.  

Other missions were also lengthened. Notably, in 1998 and 1999 Russian cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev spent 379 days on Mir—twice his original flight length. And throughout the ISS era, mission failures, changing circumstances and launch delays kept multiple crews in space far longer than intended. 

In 2017, a reduced number of Russian cosmonauts on the ISS led NASA to extend astronaut Peggy Whitson’s six-month stay to 9.5 months, a new record for women. And Christina Koch, launched for a six-month stay in early 2019, relinquished her Soyuz return seat that fall to a visiting astronaut from the United Arab Emirates. Koch returned to Earth in early 2020 after 11 months—another record for women.

More recently, in 2021 and 2022 the six-month mission of Mark Vande Hei and Pyotr Dubrov was doubled to 355 days. Vande Hei later remarked that taking care of his mental health proved critically important in getting through the flight.

And across 2022 and 2023, the half-year stay of Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio doubled to 371 days—the first year-plus human space mission of the 21st century. Their lengthy ISS stint arose when a coolant leak rendered their Soyuz capsule unsafe to return to Earth, requiring a replacement ship to be launched to bring them home.

‘Extraordinary Sacrifices’

“Our astronauts,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, “make extraordinary sacrifices away from their homes and loved ones to further discovery.” His rousing words are fittingly apt for Wilmore and Williams as their week-long flight morphs to eight months: the biggest duration hike of any crewed mission in history—a staggering 25 times longer than planned on their day of launch.  

Despite immense sacrifices on their families, there can be no doubting Wilmore and Williams’ steely resolve. Having both flown the shuttle and Soyuz, their Starliner launch and Dragon landing jointly will make them the first humans to launch or land in four different spacecraft types. And theirs will sit in the top 20 longest missions ever flown—adding to a corpus of knowledge that someday will get humans to Mars. 

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Astronomy.

The post A Brief History of Astronauts Stuck in Space appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

This comes after a weeklong mission to the ISS extended into an eight-month nightmare for two astronauts after the Starliner experienced thruster malfunctions during the trip to space. Since their blastoff on June 5, NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams have been staying on the ISS alongside the Expedition 71 crew.

• READ MORE: NASA Explains Strange Noises Heard on Boeing Starliner

NASA announced in August that the crew would be returning via the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in February. They won’t be the first astronauts returning to Earth in a separate spacecraft than the one they launched from, though missions extended from unforeseen factors are rare. 

Returning the Starliner

NASA’s mission timeline posted on Thursday states that safety and mission success remains top priorities for teams during the Starliner’s return.

As the first American capsule designed to touch down on land, the Starliner will use potential landing locations in the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; Willcox, Arizona; and Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. NASA said that Edwards Air Force Base in California is also available as a contingency landing site.

NASA said it analyzes weather predictions for the various landing sites, taking note of winds, ground temperatures, cloud ceiling height, visibility, precipitation, and nearby storms. When the teams start undocking, the Starliner will complete several departure burns. From there, the spacecraft is planned to reach its landing site in as little as six hours.

During this deorbit burn, a final weather check will commence.

• READ MORE: SpaceX—Not Boeing—Will Return Starliner Astronauts After Monthslong Mission

“Winds must be at or below 10 mph (9 knots),” NASA’s mission timeline said. “If winds exceed these limits, teams will waive the deorbit burn, and Starliner will target another landing attempt between 24 and 31 hours later.”

Assuming weather meets acceptable conditions, Starliner will execute its deorbit burn for approximately 60 seconds. This will slow it down enough to reenter earth’s atmosphere and land at its target site. Immediately after the deorbit burn, the spacecraft will reposition for service module disposal, which will burn up during reentry over the southern Pacific Ocean.

Reentry will see the capsule reach temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which may interrupt communications with the spacecraft for approximately four minutes. After this, the forward heat shield on top of the aircraft will be jettisoned and several parachutes will be deployed at 30,000 feet.

• READ MORE: NASA: Starliner Astronauts May Not Return Until February

As the aircraft continues to slow down, the base heat shield will jettison at 3,000 feet and cause six landing bags to inflate. The spacecraft will travel at approximately 4 mph at touchdown.

Recovery After Landing

After touchdown, several NASA and Boeing landing recovery teams stationed near Starliner’s landing site will move toward the spacecraft in sequential order:

• The gold team will use equipment to “sniff” the capsule for any hypergolic fuels that didn’t fully burn off before re-entry. They also cover the spacecraft’s thrusters.

• The silver team will then electrically ground and stabilize the Starliner.
• The green team will supply power and cooling to the crew module since the spacecraft will be powered down.
• The blue team will then document the recovery for public dissemination and future process review.
• The red team, which includes Boeing fire rescue, emergency medical technicians, and human factors engineers, then will open the Starliner hatch.

The teams will begin unloading time-critical cargo from the Starliner. The spacecraft will then be moved to Boeing facilities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for refurbishment.

The post NASA Reveals Mission Timeline for Crewless Starliner Return appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously undock from the ISS no earlier than Friday, making way for a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA’s two-person Crew-9 astronaut rotation mission. Wilmore and Williams will hitch a ride home on that Dragon, rather than Starliner, after NASA determined the beleaguered Boeing spacecraft poses too much risk to return with crew as planned.

The space agency on Monday said the strange sounds have ceased and will have “no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station.”

According to a conversation picked up by a Michigan-based meteorologist and first reported by Ars Technica, Wilmore on Saturday radioed NASA mission control at Johnson Space Center in Houston to report the odd sound.

“Got a question about Starliner,” he said. “There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker…I don’t know what’s making it.”

The astronaut asked mission control to listen in and see if it could determine the source of the noise. Moments later, Houston called back and Wilmore, now inside Starliner, held his microphone up to the spacecraft’s speakers, picking up the unusual sound.

“All right, Butch, that one came through,” mission control said. “It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping.”

The operator confirmed with Wilmore that there were no “other weird noises” coming from Starliner.

“I’ll do it one more time and let y’all scratch your heads and see if you can figure out what’s going on,” Wilmore replied, capturing the sound again. “Call us if you figure it out.”

Retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who flew two space shuttle missions and served a stint as ISS commander, had an ominous response to the noise in a post on X.

“There are several noises I’d prefer not to hear inside my spaceship, including this one that @Boeing Starliner is now making,” Hadfield said.

NASA, though, offered a more mundane explanation for the pulsing sound.

“The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner,” the space agency said. “The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback. The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system.”

This wouldn’t be the first time astronauts have encountered unusual noises in space. In 1969, for example, Apollo 10 astronauts reported hearing strange whistling “music” as they circled the moon. Apollo 11 pilot Michael Collins said he heard a similar “woo-woo sound” during his mission, which engineers have chalked up to radio interference.

More recently, Yang Liwei, the first Chinese man to reach space in 2003, recalled hearing what sounded like “someone knocking the body of the spaceship just as knocking an iron bucket with a wooden hammer.” Scientists now believe it was the result of air pressure changes.

It appears the noise heard aboard Starliner likewise has a rational explanation. Regardless, Wilmore and Williams will not need to concern themselves with it, as they are set to ride SpaceX’s Dragon back to Earth. The astronauts will return in February, eight months after they arrived at the space station.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post NASA Explains Strange Noises Heard on Boeing Starliner appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The semireusable vessel to the ISS is in the midst of its inaugural crew flight test (CFT) for NASA, which was planned as an eight-day visit to the orbital laboratory but has stretched for months. Officials over the weekend determined the spacecraft’s ongoing helium leaks and thruster issues pose too much risk for the mission to be completed with crew.

Instead, Wilmore and Williams will hitch a ride on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which will launch to the ISS on the Crew-9 mission scheduled for September 24. They’ll work alongside the Crew-9 astronauts during their six-month stay, coming home in February—eight months after they left.

The mission was intended to be Starliner’s final test flight before NASA certifies it for routine ISS missions.

“Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and most routine,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson during an update at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday. “A test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine. The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is the result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star.”

Both Wilmore and Williams are seasoned astronauts, having completed monthslong spaceflight missions in the past. They’ll have plenty of supplies for their extended stay. NASA launched an ISS commercial resupply mission this month and has another scheduled for October.

Norm Knight, director of flight operations for NASA, said he spoke to the crewmembers on Saturday and that they support the decision to return in February. During their lone Earth-to-orbit call in July, the astronauts said they are “having a great time” on the space station.

To make room for Wilmore and Williams, SpaceX’s Crew-9 will fly with two astronauts rather than the typical four. NASA is working to reconfigure Dragon’s seats and adjust the mission manifest to accommodate additional supplies, personal items, and spacesuits for the Starliner crew.

Before Crew-9 launches, Starliner—which is capable of flying autonomously—must undock and make a controlled reentry and landing in the New Mexico desert, freeing up a docking port for Dragon. NASA officials will conduct a flight readiness review to determine when that will happen.

“We also will continue to gather more data about Starliner during the uncrewed return and improve the system for future flights to the space station,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of NASA’s space operations mission directorate.

Nelson on Saturday said he spoke to newly anointed Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who assured him the company would finish out its $4.2 billion contract to develop Starliner and fly two to six commercial ISS missions. The manufacturer has already spent $1.6 billion out of pocket to cover delays and cost overruns on the fixed-price agreement.

“We continue to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft,” Boeing said in a statement. “We are executing the mission as determined by NASA, and we are preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return.”

What Went Wrong?

Technical problems and setbacks are nothing new for the Starliner program, which has been hampered by faulty thrusters, software and communications issues, corroded valves, and even flammable tape Boeing installed in the cockpit.

NASA in 2014 awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX, which received $2.6 billion, to build the vehicles that would comprise its Commercial Crew astronaut rotation program in a bid to reduce its reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The agency is seeking two vehicles so that each can serve as a backup for the other.

Since then, though, SpaceX has flown eight Commercial Crew missions, while Boeing has yet to complete a crewed flight test.

“All of us really wanted to complete the test flight with crew, and I think unanimously we’re disappointed not to be able to do that,” Bowersox said of the Starliner CFT.

NASA and Boeing knew about a helium leak on Starliner’s service module—the spacecraft’s expendable component—prior to the mission but took a calculated risk in authorizing it. During the vehicle’s approach to the ISS on June 6, crews discovered four more leaks, which officials said have stabilized.

The bigger issue lies with the service module’s reaction control system (RCS) thrusters, made by Boeing contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne. During Starliner’s deorbit burn, they will be required to align the spacecraft with its landing spot. Five of these thrusters failed to fire at full strength during its rendezvous with the ISS. All but one of them, which has been deactivated, are back to normal after testing, NASA said.

But the agency has struggled to trace the root cause of the problem. It delayed Crew-9 in order to perform ground testing at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, putting an identical RCS thruster through the same maneuvers that affected Starliner on orbit.

Throughout the process, officials insisted that Starliner—not Dragon—would be the astronauts’ ride home. But their tone changed in August, when engineers theorized that extreme heat from the thrusters caused a seal to expand, blocking the flow of propellant and dimming the flames.

“We are clearly operating this thruster at a higher temperature at times than it was designed for,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program.

The thruster issue ultimately traces back to a design flaw with the “doghouses” that insulate the hardware from space. These pods—which each house several thrusters—are retaining too much heat during more intense maneuvers. Engineers thought they had addressed the issue following Starliner’s second uncrewed test flight, which reached the ISS but suffered similar RCS thruster problems.

“We thought, obviously, we had done enough analysis to show that the thrusters would be within the temperatures that they were qualified for,” said Stich. “Clearly, there were some misses in qualification.”

Officials on Saturday concluded, unanimously, that there is enough risk of the problem resurfacing during the deorbit burn to pivot to Dragon. But it wasn’t without pushback from Boeing, which according to Bowersox held “tense discussions” with NASA.

“We view the data and the uncertainty that’s there differently than Boeing does,” said Jim Free, associate administrator of NASA.

Boeing officials including Mark Nappi, vice president and manager of the company’s Commercial Crew program, repeatedly downplayed the severity of the thruster issues over the past two months. On August 2, the firm even made a blog post reiterating its confidence in Starliner and summarizing the testing that had been performed.

Ultimately, though, NASA said it has learned from the missteps of the space shuttle Columbia and Challenger catastrophes and decided to err on the side of caution.

“We lost two space shuttles as a result of there not being a culture in which information could come forward,” said Nelson. “We have been very solicitous of all of our employees that if you have some objection, you come forward.”

What’s Next?

Bringing Starliner home uncrewed undoubtedly deals a blow to Boeing, despite officials’ assurance that the capsule will soon fly again. Nelson said he is “100 percent certain” the spacecraft will carry crew on future missions.

“Starliner is a very capable spacecraft and, ultimately, this comes down to needing a higher level of certainty to perform a crewed return,” said Stich.

When those missions will launch, however, is anyone’s guess. The spacecraft’s debut service mission, Starliner-1, is scheduled for August 2025 after its initial February window was given to SpaceX’s Crew-10. But that date could be jeopardized by further NASA requirements, including—potentially—another CFT.

Officials on Saturday did not commit to that. But Stich in July said NASA and Boeing “understand it’s going to take a little bit longer” to certify the spacecraft than previously thought. Officials this month said they were unsure whether NASA would classify the CFT as a mishap, which would require a more thorough investigation.

Any delay could jeopardize Starliner’s ability to fulfill its contract before the ISS is retired by NASA and SpaceX at the end of the decade. Per Ars Technica, the agency has only placed firm orders for three missions and can purchase individual flights from Boeing or SpaceX as needed.

Keeping the program on track will likely come down to Boeing, which is on the hook for any redesigns required to address Starliner’s helium leaks and faulty thrusters.

“They’ve spent ‘X.’ Will they spend ‘Y’ to get to where Boeing Starliner becomes a regular part of our crew rotation?” said Nelson. “I don’t have the answer to that, nor do I think we would have the answer now.”

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post SpaceX—Not Boeing—Will Return Starliner Astronauts After Monthslong Mission appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Reuters is reporting that Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which jointly operate United Launch Alliance (ULA), are in talks to sell their rocket business to Sierra Space, a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corp., an increasingly influential defense contractor that recently landed a $13 billion deal to build the federal government’s new Survivable Airborne Operations System based on five used Boeing 747-8s.

• READ MORE: NASA Sets Tentative End-of-Month Deadline on Starliner Decision

The talks about the rocket business are in their early stages, and ULA has previously tried to unload it without success.

The company competes with SpaceX to launch government payloads into orbit. Reuters said the company should bring in between $2 billion-$3 billion and could fit Sierra Nevada’s plan to bring its Dream Chaser spaceplane to market and service the space station it’s planning to build in partnership with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

• READ MORE: NASA Investigation Finds Boeing Hindering Americans’ Return to Moon

Meanwhile, NASA officials say they continue to consider options to return two test pilot astronauts to Earth after an extended stay, but it seems unlikely Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will be going back on the Boeing Starliner crew capsule.

A decision on whether to use the problematic capsule must be made by the end of August.

• READ MORE: NASA: Starliner Astronauts May Not Return Until February

NASA officials told reporters last week that it’s considering a variety of alternative plans to get them home, including leaving them on the International Space Station for another six months as substitute members of a new four-member crew that will launch to the ISS for a six-month tour in September. Instead of bringing four astronauts, the SpaceX rocket would have two crew on board who would return with Williams and Wilmore after their tour is complete.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

The post Boeing, Lockheed Martin Consider Selling Space Launch Business appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The semireusable space capsule is in the middle of its inaugural crewed flight test (CFT), a test mission that was intended to last around eight days but could be stretched to eight months if NASA decides against flying it home with crew. In that case, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which is scheduled to fly another crew of astronauts to the ISS on September 24, would return Williams and Wilmore in February, the space agency said last week.

Starliner was intended to fly the astronauts to the ISS for a few days of research and evaluations before returning them to Earth a few days later. But on its way to the orbital laboratory, NASA identified five reaction control system (RCS) thrusters on the capsule’s service module—an expendable component—that did not fire at full strength.

The decision was made to keep Starliner docked to the space station while NASA and Boeing crews performed testing and data analysis on the ground at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, as well as a few hot fire tests of the thrusters on orbit.

Officials have said that the machinery is now working at or near expected levels, but engineers are still working to determine what caused the issue and ensure it doesn’t reappear on the return trip. NASA has brought in propulsion experts from different branches, including the Glenn Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to gather outside opinions.

As a result, Starliner’s return has been delayed several times, most recently after NASA announced that a flight readiness review would be pushed from this week to next. That meeting will pull together stakeholders from across the agency in order to make a final decision on how to return the crew. If stakeholders cannot settle on a plan, the decision will be kicked up the ladder to NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free or Administrator Bill Nelson.

Now, according to Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of the agency’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, the flight readiness review will take place either at the end of next week or the start of the following.

According to NASA chief astronaut Joe Acaba, Wilmore and Williams will have to abide by whatever stakeholders decide.

“They will do what we ask them to do,” Acaba said Wednesday. “This is not really a preference thing. They are going to wait for us to analyze the data and come up with a decision.”

Absent from Wednesday’s briefing were officials from Boeing, but officials said company representatives have been involved in key meetings and data analysis.

If NASA opts to use SpaceX’s Dragon, it could send the spacecraft up with two crewmembers instead of four, as planned, to leave room for the astronauts to hitch a ride when the mission concludes in February.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post NASA Sets Tentative End-of-Month Deadline on Starliner Decision appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

NASA and Boeing are in the midst of the inaugural crew flight test (CFT) of Starliner, a semireusable vessel to the ISS under contract for agency service missions as soon as next year. But en route to the orbital laboratory, the spacecraft suffered several anomalies that have led teams to keep it on the ISS for further testing.

A preflight readiness review, during which crews would make a determination on Starliner’s return date, was expected last month but has since been pushed back, with no updates provided since last week.

NASA and Boeing last held a meeting to discuss Starliner’s issues with the media on July 25 and have insisted that the Boeing capsule will return the astronauts to Earth. However, as first reported by Ars Technica and confirmed by FLYING, it appears the space agency is considering enlisting SpaceX’s Dragon.

“NASA is evaluating all options for the return of agency astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station as safely as possible,” a NASA spokesperson told FLYING. “No decisions have been made and the agency will continue to provide updates on its planning.”

The statement is a marked shift from the agency’s tone thus far, which has been adamant about Starliner safely returning Wilmore and Williams.

While SpaceX’s Dragon is not mentioned by name, it is the only vehicle in NASA’s ISS Commercial Crew rotation program. Steve Stich, who manages the Commercial Crew program, previously said that there were no discussions between the agency and SpaceX about using Dragon as an alternative. However, NASA in July issued a task award for SpaceX to study flying Dragon with six passengers, rather than the typical four.

In theory, the spacecraft could accommodate the four-person crew of SpaceX’s upcoming Crew-9 mission in addition to Wilmore and Williams. NASA is reportedly also considering flying Crew-9 with two crewmembers, leaving room for the two astronauts on the ISS.

The problem, though, is that Crew-9 on Tuesday was delayed from August 18 to September 24 to give Starliner teams more time to finalize a return plan.

Multiple independent sources also told Ars Technica that Starliner’s onboard flight software is not currently capable of completing an automated undocking from the ISS—despite the capsule completing that maneuver during an uncrewed flight test in 2022—and could take nearly a month to be updated.

If the report is accurate, the software issue would compound Starliner’s existing problems, the most consequential being a set of misfiring thrusters.

Five reaction control system (RCS) thrusters on the spacecraft’s service module fired at lower levels than expected during the trip to the orbital laboratory. The thrusters have been tested on orbit and are now operating at or near expected levels, according to NASA.

But the agency continues to wrap up ground testing at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, where an identical thruster is being evaluated. It appears crews do not yet have full confidence in the thrusters’ performance, as evidenced by the delay to the flight readiness review.

NASA continues to tout safety as its highest priority for the CFT, but there are certainly some politics at play.

On July 25, Stich said NASA would like to see Starliner return Wilmore and Williams during the CFT, implying that another crewed test could be required for certification if it doesn’t. The CFT is intended to be the final test flight, but Stich previously acknowledged that certification could take longer than originally expected.

Boeing last week released a statement appearing to publicly pressure NASA, reiterating its confidence in the vessel as evidenced by the extensive testing that has been performed since it docked at the ISS.

Already, Starliner’s inaugural service mission has been delayed from February to August 2025, adding to the almost decade of setbacks the program has suffered. Adding to the headache, Boeing has reportedly spent $1.6B on Starliner so far.

The manufacturer has plenty of incentive to push for Wilmore and Williams’ return on the spacecraft. But at the same time, a failed mission would likely torpedo the program, leaving stakeholders with a difficult decision.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post Starliner Astronauts May Return on Delayed Crew-9 Mission appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner—a semireusable spacecraft under a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA for Commercial Crew rotation missions to the ISS—underwent a hot fire test on Saturday intended to evaluate the capsule’s reaction control system (RCS) thrusters. The vessel is in the midst of its crewed flight test (CFT), which is intended to be its final mission before NASA certifies it for service.

On its way to the orbital laboratory, five of Starliner’s RCS thrusters failed to perform as expected, which, coupled with a series of helium leaks, has led NASA and Boeing to keep the spacecraft at the ISS for further testing both on the ground and in orbit. The issues are traced to the spacecraft’s service module, which, unlike the semireusable crew module, will be jettisoned and lost at the end of the mission.

Starliner had already undergone one on-orbit hot fire test in June. According to Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, all thrusters, except for one which has been shut down, performed at 80 to 100 percent during that test. Stich in July said the space agency continues to hold that assessment.

However, it appears the test was not satisfactory for NASA and Boeing, which last month began hot fire ground testing at White Sands Test Facility Test Facility in New Mexico. The campaign is using an identical thruster to recreate the cadence of Starliner’s thrusters during its docking with the ISS, which engineers believe is the maneuver that caused the issue.

As part of those evaluations, officials suggested there could be a second hot fire test of Starliner on orbit, which came to fruition Saturday. With Wilmore and Williams inside the spacecraft, teams fired 27 of the service module’s 28 RCS thrusters one at a time.

The test showed that all thrusters are back to preflight levels, firing at 97 to 102 percent of peak thrust according to Boeing. In addition, engineers confirmed that helium leak rates remain stable and that the spacecraft has more than enough fuel for its return trip.

Boeing predicted that a flight test readiness review will take place by the end of this week, following which teams will select a return date. Wilmore and Williams will also participate in two undocking simulations during the week in preparation for their homecoming.

The astronauts in July gave their first Earth-to-orbit update since arriving at the ISS, saying they are in good spirits and have been in contact with their families.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post Stuck Boeing Starliner Completes Thruster Testing on Orbit appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

For the public, those were the first words heard from NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams—the crew of the space agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT)—since they arrived at the orbital laboratory more than one month ago for an intended eight-day stay.

The Earth-to-orbit call between crew and NASA command was live streamed on the agency’s website. The event answered appeals from members of the media, made during a previous press conference, to see the astronauts on camera as concerns with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner—which brought them to the ISS—continue to linger.

The spacecraft is contending with two key problems: helium leaks and deactivated or underperforming thrusters. The issues are concentrated within the spacecraft’s service module, which aids in maneuvers such as docking and undocking with the ISS.

NASA and Boeing have indicated that Starliner has more than enough helium to make it home but are continuing to assess the root cause of the leaks. During a hot fire test after docking, four out of the five affected thrusters performed as expected. The fifth was deactivated for the remainder of the mission.

Williams and Wilmore recounted their trip to the space station and the moment they realized that Starliner’s thrusters were not firing at full power. They also sang the spacecraft’s praises, with Wilmore even saying he was tempted to award his first perfect rating for its handling performance.

Separately, NASA and Boeing representatives held a press conference to provide the latest on ongoing ground thruster testing at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Officials again did not provide a firm return date for Wilmore and Williams. But Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, estimated that testing could wrap up by the end of the month, after which point teams will iron out a timeline.

Engineers hope to conduct as many evaluations as possible while the semireusable spacecraft, designed to survive 10 missions, is in orbit. Starliner’s service module, the expendable component of the spacecraft, will be jettisoned and lost as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere.

Astronauts Phone Home

Williams and Wilmore on Wednesday made their long-awaited first appearance on camera since arriving at the ISS on June 6, recounting the CFT’s progress so far.

“Launch was spectacular,” Wilmore said, adding that the spacecraft performed “unbelievably well” during operational capability checks.

However, on the second day of their journey to the ISS, the astronauts could tell something was amiss. As Starliner approached the orbital lab, a total of five reaction control system (RCS) thrusters on its service module either turned off or did not fire at intended strength. Williams and Wilmore commandeered the capsule manually for about one hour as teams on the ground assessed the issue.

“From that point on, you could tell that the thrust was degraded,” Wilmore said. “But it was still impressive.”

Even with less-than-optimal performance, the thrusters completed what Wilmore described as a perfect maneuver as they navigated the final 10 meters to dock Starliner with the space station.

According to Williams, the astronauts talk with mission crews once per week to share and analyze the data they’ve collected. She highlighted the capsule’s ability to serve as a “safe haven” in the event of an ISS evacuation—a role it fulfilled last month after a Russian satellite broke up in orbit.

“We are having a great time here on the ISS,” said Williams. “I’m not complaining, Butch isn’t complaining, that we’re here for a couple extra weeks.”

One question NASA and Boeing have received is whether Starliner could bring Williams and Wilmore home right now. Officials insist it could, but only in an emergency situation that would require the ISS to be evacuated. The astronauts were asked about their confidence level in that scenario.

“I feel confident that, if we had to—if there was a problem with the International Space Station—we could get in the spacecraft and undock, talk with our team, and figure out the best way to come home,” said Williams.

She later added, “I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home no problem.”

Wilmore said he and his crewmate “trust the tests we are doing are the right ones we need to do to get us the right answers, to give us the data we need to come back,” adding that they are “absolutely ready” for a return based on current engineering data.

NASA could send a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule—which has completed all eight ISS Commercial Crew rotation missions to date—to retrieve the astronauts should Starliner’s issues persist. On Wednesday, Stich said the space agency has not yet opened those discussions with SpaceX, though he did not rule out the possibility.

The astronauts also described their view of Hurricane Beryl from space, saying that their families—who live in Texas and were in the storm’s path—are doing well. Wilmore said he is “90 percent sure” he could see the storm forming off the West coast of Africa days before it was named.

The 20-minute call concluded with some zero-gravity backflips by Williams and a big, smiling thumbs-up from Wilmore.

NASA, Boeing Share More Info

Stich and Mark Nappi, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew program, addressed the media following the astronauts’ remarks.

According to Stich, Starliner will need to undock before mid-August, when SpaceX’s Crew-8 team swaps with the incoming Crew-9. Williams and Wilmore will need to return a few days before the Crew-9 launch window opens. Starliner remains a “go” for return in an emergency scenario, officials said. But they prefer to wait until ground testing is complete before attempting a by-the-books return,

Stich estimated that hot fire testing at White Sands could “optimistically” wrap up by the end of July, though it could be extended. Teams are working toward a nominal return flight readiness review, standard for crew rotation missions, that would give the green light to finish the mission as planned. 

Should more time be needed, NASA is in the process of approving a 45-day extension of the CFT, which is contingent on the health of Starliner’s batteries. According to Stich, those systems have shown no sign of wear and tear.

The goal of the test campaign is to recreate the firing pattern of one of Starliner’s faulty thrusters using an identical thruster—designed for a future mission—on the ground. Hot fire testing began on July 3, but Stich said crews have so far been unable to achieve the temperatures experienced by the thruster in orbit. Engineers believe the unusual firing pattern could be due to excess heat.

Teams will then attempt to predict how the thrusters might behave as Starliner undocks and flies home. Based on their learnings, they could modify the spacecraft’s flight path, deactivate certain thrusters, or fire them at different rates. Williams and Wilmore are capable of piloting Starliner manually if issues arise.

At the same time, Stich said White Sands personnel are evaluating the service module for Starliner’s inaugural crew rotation mission, Starliner-1, scheduled for February. The current service module has contended with a series of helium leaks, for which crews are attempting to uncover the root cause. Starliner-1’s service module won’t be redesigned, but Nappi said future models could incorporate changes based on the testing at White Sands.

The Outlook

Extended ISS stays are not necessarily uncommon, and the space station is designed to accommodate crew for months at a time if needed.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, for example, set a U.S. spaceflight record when his planned six-month mission was nearly doubled to 371 consecutive days aboard the orbital laboratory. Unlike Starliner, the Russian Soyuz capsule that ferried Rubio to the ISS was quickly ruled out as an emergency return vehicle, lending credence to the idea that Boeing’s issues are less severe.

However, NASA and Boeing face the added pressure of certification after close to a decade of delays to the Starliner program. In a prior press conference, Stich acknowledged that NASA and Boeing “understand it’s going to take a little bit longer” to certify Starliner than originally planned.

On Wednesday, the Commercial Crew manager said teams will decide between Starliner-1 or SpaceX Dragon’s Crew-10—which are booked for the same February launch window—once the CFT ends and postflight analysis is complete. The longer that takes, he said, the more likely it is that SpaceX will take over the mission.

Nappi agreed with that assessment, citing the need to understand and fix Starliner’s helium leaks as the biggest obstacle to certification.

NASA and Boeing said Wilmore and Williams will make one more Earth-to-orbit call before they depart the ISS, with more details to come.

Like this story? We think you’ll also like the Future of FLYING newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Sign up now.

The post Boeing Starliner Astronauts Give Earth-to-Orbit Update appeared first on FLYING Magazine.