In brief
- NASA revealed Friday that Boeing’s Starliner capsule “Calypso” will linger at the ISS twice as long as planned.
- Calypso will leave the ISS at 11:42 p.m. ET on June 21 and land at 6:26 a.m. ET on June 22.
- Crew flight testing is a crucial step towards NASA certifying Boeing to carry crew on operational trips with the spaceship.
NASA revealed Friday that Boeing’s Starliner capsule “Calypso” will remain at the ISS twice as long as planned.
Boeing and NASA are testing Starliner on the ISS, demonstrating the mission’s developmental nature. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will fly Starliner back to Earth next week, marking the first crewed trip.
Boeing and NASA planned a nine-day spaceflight for Starliner before launch on June 5.
Calypso is now scheduled to depart the ISS at 11:42 p.m. ET on June 21 and land at 6:26 a.m. ET on June 22. For further spacecraft testing, the Starliner crew flight test will now span at least 17 days, double the previous estimate.
The capsule’s hatch, seven thrusters, and cabin air temperature will be tested as management and astronauts “finalize departure planning and operations,” according to NASA.
The agency also said Starliner would “repeat some ‘safe haven’ testing,” but did not explain why. Safe haven tests include ISS crew using a spaceship for shelter in an emergency. NASA stated that “the spacecraft remains cleared for crew emergency return scenarios within the flight rules,” referring to an unexpected ISS evacuation.
NASA delayed CNBC’s request for explanation until a news conference Tuesday before the departure after issuing an update Friday.
NASA certifies Boeing to fly personnel on operational, six-month missions after the crew flight test. As with the previous two, problems plague the uncrewed Starliner mission.
One leak in Calypso’s helium propulsion system was found before launch. The capsule’s leak was stable; therefore, the launch proceeded and delivered Starliner to the ISS.
Since docking with the ISS, four more helium leaks have occurred. Based on the five leaks and 10 times the needed helium capacity in its tanks, NASA reported this week that Calypso “has plenty of margin to support the return trip”.The spacecraft propulsion system had another difficulty, which NASA says was unrelated to the helium leaks, while Boeing guided Starliner into docking. Starliner has 28 reaction control system (RCS) jets to accomplish modest orbital changes.
Five of the 28 thrusters were malfunctioning, but Boeing fixed four of Starliner’s jets and NASA docked the ship.
NASA announced Friday that it would hot-fire test seven of the eight thrusters near the spacecraft’s tail before undocking. Boeing tests the thrusters with short bursts called hot fires. NASA could not say if any of the seven thrusters being tested were the same as the five that halted before docking.
With the mission tripling in length, Boeing Vice President Mark Nappi noted, “We have plenty of margin and time on station.”
Starliner originally competed with SpaceX’s Dragon, which has performed 12 ISS crewed visits in four years. Starliner has been pushed to the backburner as NASA plans to alternate astronaut missions between SpaceX and Boeing.
