On Saturday, Aug. 24, NASA made a devastating decision for Boeing’s space division: The Starliner spacecraft, which made its first crewed flight in June, would return to Earth without crew. As a result, SpaceX will be responsible for bringing back the two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, that Boeing transported to the International Space Station. The space agency recently announced this plan.
Starliner has a return date. Boeing engineers have been working on the humbling task of preparing the Starliner for an uncrewed return. Last Thursday, NASA approved a revision to the plan that allows Boeing to proceed with undocking the spacecraft and a fully autonomous return. Flight controllers from the space agency in Houston and Boeing in Florida will oversee the task.
The Starliner spacecraft will separate from the ISS at 6:04 (ET) on Sept. 6, three months after its complicated arrival at the ISS. Undocking will be possible if there are no weather delays at the landing site and no operational problems.
Boeing’s last chance. Despite helium leaks and thruster failure, the Starliner has enough helium and two engines to perform the re-entry maneuvers. It has already completed an uncrewed re-entry and landing. It did it twice because of its problems on its first trip to the space station.
I mean, it’s unlikely that anything will go wrong. But suppose the risk NASA wanted to spare its astronauts materializes, and something happens. In that case, the Starliner’s first crewed flight will likely be its last. NASA has another spacecraft to bring back the astronauts from the space station, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. While unfortunate, it would mean that Boeing could stop bleeding money on the cursed Starliner program. Nonetheless, it would seal the Starliner’s legacy as a total fiasco.
Image | NASA
Related | U.S. Temporarily Stops SpaceX Flights. The Reason: A Failed Landing After 267 Successful Trips
View 0 comments