The upcoming launch of the Atlas 5 rocket carries astronauts Scrubbed less than two hours before lift-off for the first time. It was primed to boost Monday night’s blast Boeing’s long-delayed Starliner Crew shuttle into orbit for its first pilot test flight to the International Space Station.
The reason for the delay was a fault in the valve in the top position of the rocket.
Years behind schedule and more than a billion dollars spent, Starliner is Boeing’s answer to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, an already operational shuttle that carried 50 astronauts, astronauts and civilians into orbit on 13 flights, 12 of them to the space station.
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NASA funded the development of both shuttles to ensure the agency could send personnel to the outpost even if a company’s shuttle was grounded for any reason.
Astronauts for planned flight
When a launch is rescheduled, the Mission Commander remains at the controls Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita WilliamsBoth experienced Navy test pilots and active-duty NASA astronauts have combined for four previous space missions, 11 spacewalks between them and 500 days in orbit.
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Although the first flights are slightly more dangerous than operational missions, the Starliner, like SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, is equipped with a “full envelope” abort system to launch the launch pad into orbit.
Atlas 5’s Centaur Upper Station was designed to launch the Starliner into preliminary orbit 15 minutes later. Astronauts will monitor two quick thrust firings to fine-tune the ship’s orbit before testing the spacecraft’s computer-aided manual control system.
As with other space station rendezvous, Starliner will approach the laboratory from behind and below, circle to a point directly at the outpost, and then move to dock in the forward port of the Harmony module.
During final approach, Wilmore and Williams will again test the capsule’s manual controls to ensure that future crews will be able to alter the trajectory or orientation of the spacecraft at will if necessary.
The Starliner is equipped with a fully manual backup system that bypasses the spacecraft’s flight computers and allows the crew to directly command the ship’s thrusters using a joystick-like hand controller. Wilmore and Williams will test the system after departing the station on May 15 before returning to Earth.
“Absolutely Important Milestone”
Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations, called the Starliner crew flight test, or CFT, “an absolutely critical milestone.”
“I remind everyone again, this is a new spacecraft,” he told reporters last week. “There are definitely things we don’t know about this mission, and we might encounter things we don’t expect. But our job right now is to be vigilant and look for problems.”
While he said he believed the Starliner would accomplish the mission, Frei said he didn’t want to “get too far ahead” because the crew had yet to complete a successful mission. But “when we do,” he added, “when we certify Starliner, the United States will have two unique human space shuttles that will provide critical redundancy for ISS access.”
But it wasn’t easy.
After the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, NASA awarded two commercial group project contracts to spur development of an independent spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts. International Space Station.
The target date for the first piloted CCP flights is 2017. Congressional funding shortfalls and technical glitches have delayed development, including an explosion during a ground test that destroyed the SpaceX Crew Dragon.
But the California rocket builder finally began pilot flights in May 2020, successfully launching two NASA astronauts aboard the Crew Dragon test flight to the space station.
Since then, SpaceX has launched eight mission crew orbiters to the station, three research missions to the Houston-based lab. Axiom Space and A Purely commercial, a two-man, two-woman trip to low-Earth orbit piloted by billionaire aviator and entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. In total, 50 people have flown into orbit in Crew Dragons.
It’s a different story for Boeing’s Starliner.
During an unmanned test flight in December 2019, a software error prevented the ship’s flight computer from loading the correct launch time from the Atlas 5 ship.
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As a result, the required orbital insertion burn did not happen on time and due to unrelated communication problems, flight controllers were unable to regain control in time.
The software problems were resolved after the Starliner landed, along with various issues that came to light in the post-flight review. Boeing chose to conduct a second test flight at its own expense, but the company found the propulsion system valves in the Starliner’s service block stuck. Engineers were unable to resolve the problem and the capsule was removed from its Atlas 5 and transported back to its processing facility for repairs.
Engineers eventually identified a moisture problem, presumably high humidity and rain after the pad was rolled, which chemically reacted with the thruster propellant and created corrosion. Corrosion prevented the valves from opening on command.
To clear the way for a launch next May, valves in the new service module were replaced and the system modified to prevent water from entering the launch pad. A second Starliner test flight in May 2022 was successful, docking with the space station as planned and returning to Earth with a precision landing.
But after the flight, engineers discovered new problems: trouble with the parachute harness connectors and concern about the protective tape wrapped around the wiring that could catch fire on short circuits.
Work to fix those problems pushed the first flight from 2023 to 2024. After all was said and done, Boeing spent more than $1 billion of its own money to pay for additional test flights and corrective actions.
