Boeing Co and NASA on Thursday launched the long-delayed Starliner space capsule for a planned rendezvous with the International Space Station, following two earlier failed attempts for a program that has bedeviled the company and left SpaceX as the only US option for ferrying astronauts.
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched the craft, without crew, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:54pm on Thursday for a day-long cruise to the space station.
The CST-100 Starship was scheduled to arrive about 24 hours later yesterday and planned to test multiple docking technologies that Boeing was unable to perform during a December 2019 flight cut short by software flaws.
Photo: NASA / Joel Kowsky / EPA-EFE
Boeing and NASA engineers are exploring why two of the 12 thrusters situated at the aft of the spacecraft failed during a key maneuvering burn, although flight computers quickly switched to other thrusters, NASA commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said in a news briefing hours after the launch.
The thrust system is also used in early phases of the Starliner’s approach to the space station and when it de-orbits to commence its return to Earth.
“The system is designed to be redundant and worked as designed, and now the team is working on why we had those anomalies occur,” Starliner manager Mark Nappi said.
Engineers might be able to resolve the thruster issues during the flight, Stich said.
A system that removes heat from the spacecraft interior, called a sublimator, also performed “sluggishly” during the ascent and would be probed, Stich said.
The test flight comes at a critical moment for Boeing, which is trying to overcome years of challenges with Starliner’s development. Boeing has tallied US$595 million in extraordinary charges to cover Starliner delays, including US$185 million in October last year.
Moreover, CEO Dave Calhoun is under fire from customers and investors, as Boeing struggles to meet deadlines and technical standards across its product lineup.
“We wouldn’t be here right now if we weren’t confident this would be a successful mission,” astronaut Butch Wilmore said on Wednesday during a prelaunch news briefing with NASA officials.
Wilmore was joined by astronauts Sunita Williams and Mark Fincke; the three have been working with Boeing on the development, and each is hoping to be selected for a future Starliner flight.
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