At an altitude of 400 meters, docked with the International Space Station (ISS), the Boeing capsule has still not returned from its mission. “Calypso”, the name of first Starliner spacecraft to carry astronauts towards the ISS, will spend twice as long as expected in orbit while its return was planned nine days after its takeoff on June 5, i.e. June 14. In a press release published last Friday, the American company and NASA postponed his return to June 22.
For the moment, no explanation can shed light on this late return of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Their return to dry land, which will take six hours, will take place after 17 mission days instead of nine, when they will have to carry out “additional tests”, relays CNBC. According to the American space agency, these would involve checks around the operation of Starliner’s hatches, the triggering of its thrusters and the regulation of the air temperature in the cabin.
A press conference has still been postponed, and should only be held a few hours before the capsule’s return. The opportunity to take stock of this first Boeing mission with NASA towards the ISS, a shuttle mission that has become traditional at SpaceX, thanks to Crew Dragon. With this mission and this first Calypso capsule, Boeing will or will not obtain certification to carry out these same operational missions, during which the capsule generally remains in orbit for six months.
Leaks and malfunctions
During the docking phase, the Boeing ship already showed room for improvement, with leaks in the helium propulsion system. Leaks considered stable and weak enough not to constitute a threat to the autonomy of the capsule – particularly on its return – but which raise questions. Especially since four other leaks have been observed since Starliner docked. NASA wanted to put the situation into perspective for the safety of the astronauts, recalling that the helium tanks are on board ten times the capacity needed for the mission.
That said, leaks weren’t the only problem. To guide the ship onto the ISS hatch, 28 thrusters are used for millimeter precision. That said, during the operation, five were found to be defective. After a repair, Boeing could have recovered four of them, and thus obtained docking authorization from NASA. Such situations will have to be resolved if Boeing expects to be able to recover half of the manned launches to the ISS, alternately with SpaceX. The Starliner program also plans for a single vessel to be able to carry out at least ten missions.
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