manned NASA capsule ready for lift-off

Controversy over the safety culture within Boeing’s aviation sector, along with software problems that compromised Starliner’s first test mission in 2019 and more technical flaws discovered after a second test flight last year, have intensified the spotlight on the vehicle’s crewed debut.

The problems have been “comprehensively addressed” and Nasa has set in place “an appropriate, mature risk-management framework to address the challenges of the crew flight test,” Susan Helms, chair of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, said.

Wilmore and Williams have worked to temper expectations, stressing that imperfections are par for the course during Starliner’s shakedown cruise 250 miles above the Earth, but that layers of safety back-up have been built into the mission.

“We’ve worked really hard to make sure that we have that ‘get out of jail free’ card, regardless of whatever surprises happen,” Williams said. “I really don’t think at this juncture anyone should worry. We’re ready to make this mission happen.”

In 2014, three years after retiring its space shuttle fleet, NASA signed a contract with SpaceX and Boeing to develop a new generation of vehicles to replace it. The goal is to carry astronauts to and from the ISS and eliminate NASA’s dependence on Russia to give them a lift in its Soyuz capsules for up to $90 million a seat.

SpaceX, which got $2.6 billion, was then a relative newcomer. Boeing, which got $4.2 billion, already had more than 60 years of experience in the aerospace sector, including building NASA’s first lunar orbiters and parts of the Saturn V rocket that sent man to the moon in the 1960s, as well as components of the shuttle and the ISS.

However, SpaceX was first past the post, becoming the first commercial provider to fly astronauts in 2020 aboard its Crew Dragon capsule. It has flown astronauts eight times for NASA and three times for private clients.

Boeing has flown two missions with dummies on board — the first of which entered the wrong orbit and failed to reach the ISS in 2019. Last year it was discovered that miles of wiring had been wrapped in insulating tape that was flammable and that the landing parachutes were not as robust as was required, causing further delays.

“Day to day it’s been, ‘Where are the problems? Let’s go look at those problems … try to come up with solutions … the compromises or non-compromises, what we can actually do in a time frame to get us flown’,” Williams said, adding: “It’s been eye on the ball and it’s hard to believe we’re almost here.”

An important component of training has been the use of virtual reality technology. Wilmore and Williams trained on 3-D simulators, as well as on VR headsets created by Varjo, a Finnish technology company.

The system packs into a briefcase, offering portability and a more flexible learning regime in which the crew can be worlds apart in real life but rehearsing side by side in Starliner’s VR cockpit. The more “sets and reps” they rehearse, repeating scenarios, the more proficient they become.

“VR for astronaut training is significantly cheaper and more portable than the physical simulator; now you can do this from anywhere,” Tristan Cotter, of Varjo, said. “The experience is typically so intuitive and immersive and realistic that you soon get comfortable and each time you use it you become more adjusted, so it becomes second habit. You get that same sense of nervousness and fear and excitement; it’s an important part of the training.”

The VR system provides a 360-degree view of Starliner’s interior and replicates every switch, button, lever and digital display on its control panels, with which the crew interact using hand-held devices.

It runs data in real time so astronauts can work through every stage of a mock mission and it has built-in sensors that collect information about their cognitive load and stress levels by tracking their eye movements.

Its image quality is the same resolution as the human eye, which is 576 megapixels. “You’re able to get this beautiful clarity and high fidelity where you see small details and texture, text, dials and gauges,” Cotter said.

“We feel a lot of pride and validation that this technology is good enough for an astronaut and to provide the type of training to get them safely aboard the first crewed mission of Boeing Starliner. It’s incredibly exciting. As a bunch of tech enthusiasts, there’s lots of people who work here that as children looked up to NASA and to Boeing as some of their idols.”

Wilmore and Williams have spent the past two weeks in pre-flight quarantine at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, to minimize the chance of falling sick and being grounded, or of spreading illness to their colleagues on the ISS.

If Starliner checks off all the goals set by NASA for this test mission, it will go into service for six-monthly trips to and from the ISS from next year, alternating with SpaceX. Mike Fincke, 57, who trained with Wilmore and Williams as their back-up, will pilot the first of those with three colleagues.

Wilmore admitted that there were “unknowns” to being the first to fly a spacecraft previously untested by humans. “That’s one of the reasons why there’s only two of us. Yeah, there’s some added risk, but we tried to mitigate all those risks ahead of time. We discussed it and decided we could do the mission without a third person, so there’s no reason to expose them to it,” he said.

He and Williams are both United States navy captains. Williams, a helicopter pilot who is married to a police officer, has spent 321 days in space during two previous missions. Wilmore, a father of two and a former US navy combat pilot, spent 178 days in space.

“We’re together most of the day every day and there are some people I wouldn’t want to be with most of the day every day. You don’t meld with everyone on the planet but thankfully Suni’s not one of those,” Wilmore said. “It’s been a joy to share this journey with her and the other team members that go through these processes with us. It’s been tough at times, but I’ve been joyful the whole time.”

Starliner will spend eight days at the ISS then land under parachute at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Beyond their odyssey on Starliner, there may be big decisions to make. NASA is also striking out for the moon through its Artemis program, which aims to set a crew on the lunar surface in 2026 and establish a sustained presence through a rolling series of missions.

“I’d love to go to the moon. I think that’s in our soul. Everyone in our office wants to go to the moon,” Williams said. “But I also know we have really good astronauts and it might be time to hang up my flying shoes. We’ll see after this gets done.”