Boeing’s Starliner Has Landed, but Questions Remain After Imperfect Mission

Boeing ’s Starliner successfully touch down yesterday on the sandlike Earth’s surface of the New Mexico desert , note the completion of the first uncrewed terminal - to - end trial of the spacecraft . It was a delineation - consummate landing place , but the six - mean solar day delegation was not without problems .

TheCST-100 Starliner spacecraftlanded on Wednesday at 4:49 p.m. local metre ( 6:49 p.m. EDT ) at at White Sands Missile Range ’s Space Harbor after pass six days in dispirited Earth orbit . The spacecraftdepartedfrom the infinite station with more than 600 pounds ( 270 kilo ) of cargo , include three spent atomic number 7 oxygen reusable tanks that supply breathable air to ISS gang members .

Four hours after undocking from the orbital outstation , Starliner deployed three parachute and six airbags to help wreak it to a liquid touchdown . A team will now transport the fomite back to the company ’s facility at NASA ’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for processing .

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft safely touched down at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft safely touched down at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor.Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The trial flight is part of Boeing’s$4.3 billioncontract with NASA’sCommercial Crew Programto leave drive for its astronaut to and from the ISS . But Boeing had come down behind on deliver a viable spacecraft after two premature failed tryout attempts , one in 2019andone last year . Meanwhile , its commercial-grade counterpart SpaceX ( which was awarded a $ 2.6 billion contract from NASA ) has beendropping off astronauts at the ISSfor the past two years now .

The mop up of this ending - to - remainder test flight , called Orbital Flight Test-2 ( OFT-2 ) , has been a long time come up , but it ’s already clear that there were several problem during the mission .

The Starliner CST-100 ballistic capsule launch on May 19 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida . About 30 minutes after liftoff , one of 12 thrusters responsible for orbital maneuvering malfunctioned , observe by a bankruptcy of a backup thruster , as Steve Sitch , director of NASA ’s Commercial Crew Program , explainedat a post - launch mechanical press conference . An proceeds with equipment that save Starliner cool also emerged in brief into the foreign mission .

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When it came time to rendezvous with the ISS , a ring creditworthy for latch onto the station break down to deploy in the right manner , make Starliner to miss its scheduled striking time by over an hour , according toAFP . And in short after touchdown , the recovery team find hydrazine vapor — a inflammable oleaginous liquid that ’s dangerous to inhale — around the spacecraft . This lingering chemical , which thrust the recovery team to temporarily back off , may have been a final result of Starliner not burning through all of its propellant , Stich said during a post - touchdown briefing . No leak were find , he added .

Despite these issues , the team behind the missionary post still seemed optimistic . “ We have a few things to work on … but I do n’t really see any showstoppers , ” Stich told reporters at the briefing . NASA and Boeing will now cautiously analyse and audit the mission data , which will inform the next steps . assume the problem live during OFT-2 are as minor as Stich is making them out to be , a crewed test flight of Starliner could come about later this year .

During its brief time in low Earth range , the Starliner was attended to by ISS gang member , who give avideo tourof the spacecraft while it was dock . The crew even got to meet Rosie the Rocketeer , a trial manikin that ’s equipped with 15 sensing element to relay what astronauts on board the spacecraft would have see during the journeying . Although Rosie did n’t have much to say , NASA spaceman Robert Hines pointed at the homunculus in the commander ’s seat , say “ she ’s got a cracking eyeshot out her window over there . ”

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