Joey Roulette and Steve Gorman
(Reuters) – Boeing’s (NYSE:) new Starliner capsule and its first two-person NASA crew approached its final approach to the International Space Station for docking on Thursday, a key test in proving the craft’s airworthiness and intensifying competition Boeing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The spacecraft, which was about 200 meters (220 yards) from the space station, missed the initial time window to dock with the orbiting laboratory as mission managers in Houston investigated the failure of some of the spacecraft’s engines used for precision maneuvering.
Starliner will conduct several engine tests before its next attempt to approach the space station in a window that opens at 1:33 pm ET (17:33 GMT).
The CST-100 Starliner, carrying veteran astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, was scheduled to arrive on the orbital platform after a roughly 25-hour flight following its launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The reusable candy-shaped capsule, nicknamed “Calypso” by its crew, was launched into space Wednesday atop an Atlas (NYSE:) V rocket provided and launched by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance.
It was originally scheduled to autonomously dock with the ISS while both were in orbit about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth at approximately 12:15 pm ET (16:15 GMT).
The spacecraft’s approach to the ISS was broadcast live on NASA’s webcast, which showed video images of the capsule captured by a camera aboard the space station.
Once securely connected to the space lab, Wilmore and Williams had to carry out a number of standard procedures, such as checking the airlock and sealing the passage between the capsule and the ISS, before opening the entrance hatches.
They will be met on board by the outpost’s seven current crew members: four American astronauts and three Russian cosmonauts.
Plans call for Wilmore and Williams to remain aboard the station for about eight days before departing on a return flight that will take Starliner through the fiery reentry back through Earth’s atmosphere and culminating in a parachute-and-airbag landing in the desert of the southwestern United States. NASA’s first crewed mission.
During the flight to the ISS, helium leaks were discovered in the Starliner propulsion system, disabling some of the 28 engines used by the capsule to maneuver in space. The astronauts remain safe and the spacecraft has backup engines to compensate for the loss, according to NASA and Boeing.
Starliner uses helium to boost fuel pressure in its engines. NASA and Boeing did not specify the position of the downed engines or the rate of helium leakage.
NASA mission managers gave Boeing the green light early Thursday to arrive at the rendezvous site.
YEARS OF TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
Wednesday’s Starliner launch follows years of technical problems, various delays and the first successful test mission to the orbiting laboratory in 2022 without astronauts on board.
Last-minute glitches aborted Starliner’s first two crewed launch attempts, including a helium leak discovered in the capsule’s propulsion system that officials later determined was not serious enough to require mechanical repairs.
NASA and Boeing officials at the time pointed to a faulty seal on one engine component that did not keep helium inside.
Boeing built Starliner under a NASA contract to compete with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, which has been the US space agency’s only vehicle since 2020 to send ISS crew members into orbit from American soil. The current mission marks the first Starliner test flight with astronauts on board, a requirement before NASA can certify the capsule for regular astronaut missions.
The crew chosen for the critical flight were two NASA veterans who had previously spent 500 days in space: Wilmore, 61, a retired Navy captain and fighter pilot, and Williams, 58, a former Navy helicopter test pilot with more than 30 flight experience. various aircraft.
Getting Starliner to this point has been a difficult process for Boeing under its $4.2 billion fixed-price contract with NASA, which wants to duplicate two different U.S. flights to the ISS.
Starliner is several years behind schedule and more than $1.5 billion over budget. Meanwhile, Boeing’s commercial aircraft production has been rocked by a series of crises involving the 737 MAX.