Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams flew into space aboard the Boeing Starliner June 5. They were to spend eight days in orbit, docked with the International Space Station (ISS). A short trip, but in this case it was not a “full” change to the ISS, but a test mission to check the vehicle itself. This was the first such crewed flight of the Starliner, which was to test. Meanwhile, the astronauts were still, after more than 60 days, are in space. What’s worse, it’s not known when they’ll be able to return. Starliner is experiencing failures and currently is not safe enoughto deliver Barry and Sunita to Earth (the capsule is visible in the lead photo for this article).
Astronauts Stuck in Space, NASA Searches for a Solution
Problems with Starliner appeared almost immediately, as the spacecraft approached the ISS. First, there were these are helium leaks in the drive system. Some engines have turned off. Finally, it was possible to “park” at the station, but undocking has already been abandoned due to safety reasons. For now, NASA does not know what to do – at least that is what it appears from what was communicated at Wednesday’s press conference – no final decisions have been made. This situation may last at least another week.
The astronauts may not return until February. One of the options being considered is cooperation with SpaceX, which will send its Crew Dragon ship after September 24 (!!!) (by the way, that launch has just been delayed by a month). If SpaceX were to agree to reduce the size of its crew to two people, Wilmore and Williams could return with them to Earth at the end of their mission. Except that this return is planned for February only next year. Then they would spend eight months in space instead of the planned eight days. Supplies and extra clothing were sent to them. The Starliner would return to Earth without a crew, controlled by a computer. But it is still possible that the ship’s problems will be overcome enough that a manned flight on it will be deemed safe for astronauts. In addition, the Starliner docked at the location to which Crew Dragon will have to dock in October – by then it will have to vacate this docking port.
Boeing would like to race against Elon Musk’s SpaceX
Boeing Starliner it is a spacecraft that can be partially reused. This is an assumption similar to the one adopted by Elon Musk in his company SpaceX. Reusing rockets, for example, has significantly reduced the cost of space flights and has probably enabled a return to more intensive plans for exploring and taming space. NASA contracted Boeing to build the Starliner. Engineering problems have appeared from the beginning. Since 2016, the project has cost Boeing $1.6 billion.. The new problems with the capsule are a blow to at least the image of Boeing, which wants to compete with Musk’s company for a piece of the space pie.
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Source: Gazeta
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