Boeing Starliner
Discussion
Starliner is scheduled to depart at 7.36 pm UK time on Wednesday, 25th.
If all goes well, it will land safely at White Sands in New Mexico at around 11.49 pm UK time.
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
If all goes well, it will land safely at White Sands in New Mexico at around 11.49 pm UK time.
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
Landing livestream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b38sm4h2iWA
What were the technical issues? I saw two thrusters fail (pretty much par for the course as far as I can tell, that's why they build in redundancy) and the hatch looked to be a bit tricky to fit.
Neither seem like they'd cause a major delay - nothing went boom when it shouldn't, and most of the stuff went boom when it was supposed to.
Neither seem like they'd cause a major delay - nothing went boom when it shouldn't, and most of the stuff went boom when it was supposed to.
The also had problems with a couple of smaller maneuver thrusters later on - Due to low chamber pressure apparently. Again, the back ups enabled them to carry on OK. The docking adaptor had to be retracted and extended again to get it to the proper position. The automatic temperature control system was too cold and had to be adjusted from the ground. I'm sure other things will come out later. I haven't seen the post landing press conference.
Capsules come and go every month or so, but it was a nice spot to see it. I've seen a Japanese resupply craft chasing after the ISS, but nothing else so far.
A993LAD said:
Beati Dogu said:
Very likely Starliner.
Excellent stoked to have seen that with the naked eye. Particularly as I had no idea it was happening and just happened to be watching out for the ISS.spacenews.com: First crewed Starliner launch slips again
"The first flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle with astronauts on board, previously scheduled for late April, has been delayed, likely until the summer.
In a tweet March 23, Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for space operations, said that Starliner’s Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission had been delayed to some time after the launch of Axiom Space’s Ax-2 private astronaut mission to the International Space Station in early May."
The article suggests that the delay is not due to scheduling constraints and that rectification work on Starliner is the cause.
"The first flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle with astronauts on board, previously scheduled for late April, has been delayed, likely until the summer.
In a tweet March 23, Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for space operations, said that Starliner’s Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission had been delayed to some time after the launch of Axiom Space’s Ax-2 private astronaut mission to the International Space Station in early May."
The article suggests that the delay is not due to scheduling constraints and that rectification work on Starliner is the cause.
SpaceNews: No earlier than July 21st
Open work on certification of part of the parachute system.
Investigative work on a logic error in a black box in the avionics.
Date of 21st provisional, dependant upon negotiation of a launch slot with Space Force, who have another Atlas V launch in the mix.
Open work on certification of part of the parachute system.
Investigative work on a logic error in a black box in the avionics.
Date of 21st provisional, dependant upon negotiation of a launch slot with Space Force, who have another Atlas V launch in the mix.
It won’t launch in July now. They’ve discovered more problems with the parachute system and the tape around some of the spacecraft’s wiring harnesses has been found to have flammable adhesive. They’ll likely have to take the capsule apart to fix that.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/06/01/technical-sn...
https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/06/01/technical-sn...
The article does say that they have to remove covers to fix the tape issue - so maybe it won't be a total disassembly?
The really cynical part of me sometimes wonders if problems (like using flammable tape) were "designed in" by a company used to Cost-Plus contracting and expecting SpaceX to have failed by now leaving them as the sole provider with NASA over a barrel. Given the way Boeing came back for more money for Starliner to "assure delivery" or whatever the wording was, my deeply pessimistic part wonders if they weren't expecting to be able to charge to fix all these "unexpected" issues.
Am I correct in thinking that the original contract for six flights has now been completed by SpaceX (bar the landing of the sixth flight)?
The really cynical part of me sometimes wonders if problems (like using flammable tape) were "designed in" by a company used to Cost-Plus contracting and expecting SpaceX to have failed by now leaving them as the sole provider with NASA over a barrel. Given the way Boeing came back for more money for Starliner to "assure delivery" or whatever the wording was, my deeply pessimistic part wonders if they weren't expecting to be able to charge to fix all these "unexpected" issues.
Am I correct in thinking that the original contract for six flights has now been completed by SpaceX (bar the landing of the sixth flight)?
In an ideal world, Boeing and SpaceX would have been alternating crew launches at one each per year. With Starliner’s issues, SpaceX have had to step up and fill the gap. Even if Starliner is ready for its first full crew flight in September 2024, SpaceX will be on their 8th mission by then. NASA extended SpaceX’s original contract from 6 launches to 9 to cover that. They’ve since extended it again to 14. Boeing are getting their initial 6 and that’s it.
I hear the flammable nature of the tape adhesive isn’t Boeing’s fault necessarily, as it is a recent discovery and the same tape has been used without issue on previous spacecraft.
I hear the flammable nature of the tape adhesive isn’t Boeing’s fault necessarily, as it is a recent discovery and the same tape has been used without issue on previous spacecraft.
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