On Thursday, aerospace company Boeing will conduct a critical test flight on its new passenger spacecraft CST-100 Starliner – a mission that will launch a chewing gum capsule to the International Space Station without people on board. This is a flight that Boeing desperately needs to do well after a long journey to the launch pad, marked by numerous failures, false starts and long delays.
Starliner is essentially a space taxi. Designed to carry up to seven passengers, the capsule is designed to launch into orbit on top of an Atlas V rocket, automatically dock with the International Space Station or ISS, and then eventually land again on Earth under a set of parachutes. Once considered operational, Starliner will transport primarily NASA astronauts to and from the station to help maintain ISS personnel on an ongoing basis. But before NASA feels comfortable taking people on board, the agency wants Starliner to prove that it can safely complete all the major stages of a human space flight mission.
This upcoming Starliner launch is overcoming a suspension
Proving this has proved difficult for Boeing over the past three years. In fact, this upcoming Starliner launch is overcoming a suspension. Boeing first tried to launch an unmanned Starliner in 2019, but the spacecraft never reached the space station as intended. By order of NASA, the company agreed to give another chance to the test flight, and the re-launch is scheduled for last summer. But after launching Starliner, Boeing ended up returning the spacecraft to the factory to repair some valves that were not working properly. It’s been almost a year since this setback and the cumulative delays cost Boeing an additional $ 595 million.
Now Boeing is ready to try again and the company hopes that the third time will be the charm. “The Boeing team is ready and ready,” said Mark Napie, Boeing’s program manager for the Commercial Crew Program, during a pre-flight press conference. “The NASA-Boeing partnership is really strong and is a reflection of all the hard work that has been done.”
The reality is that Boeing’s relationship with NASA has slowly eroded during the development of Starliner, and the failure of this flight test could put this partnership at additional risk. In addition, if Boeing fails, NASA may be left with only one launch provider – SpaceX – to take people to and from the ISS.
First attempt
Boeing has been working on Starliner since 2014, when NASA selected the company, along with SpaceX, to develop space capsules that can transport astronauts to and from the space station. Both companies were finalists in NASA’s Commercial Crew program, which aimed to put private companies, not the government, responsible for transporting people to low Earth orbit. At the time, Boeing received an initial $ 4.2 billion development contract, while SpaceX received a $ 2.6 billion contract.
These contract awards sparked competition between SpaceX and Boeing to see which company could bring people to the ISS first. During the development process, both SpaceX and Boeing seemed open, with Boeing expected to be a little ahead. The company has been preferred from the beginning as a longtime space agency contractor. Boeing is the main contractor for the International Space Station and is currently building NASA’s next-generation rocket, the Space Launch System.
For Boeing, the sales crew program was a new way of doing business with NASA
But for Boeing, the sales crew program was a new way to do business with NASA. Boeing has often worked with the space agency through price-plus contracts: agreements in which the company receives funding from the agency to cover all development costs. Once development is complete, NASA owns the vehicle. With Commercial Crew, the contracts were fixed price. NASA gave the companies a lump sum, and the companies had to cover all development costs that exceeded the original cost. Along the way, Boeing struggled to meet its milestones, and the audit revealed that NASA had agreed to pay the company an additional $ 287 million to address these schedule gaps and “ensure that the company continues to be the second vendor of commercial crew.” “.
Starliner takes off on top of the ULA’s Atlas V rocket in December 2019. Image: NASA / Tony Gray and Kevin O’Connell
When it finally came time to fly the Starliner, Boeing experienced nothing but obstacles. As part of its commercial crew agreement with NASA, Boeing must release a version of the unmanned capsule and subject it to actual launch before people can ride the vehicle. Boeing first tried to do this in December 2019 with a mission called OFT or Orbital Flight Test. While Starliner successfully launched into space on top of its Atlas V rocket, a software problem caused the capsule to improperly launch its propulsion devices and it went into the wrong orbit. Mission controllers were unable to rectify the problem during the ignition failure due to communication interruptions. Eventually, Starliner failed to reach the International Space Station, and Boeing was forced to bring the capsule home early after just two days in space.
Boeing and NASA have revealed that engineers have actually fixed a second software problem in flight
Boeing and NASA later revealed that the engineers had in fact fixed a second software problem in flight that could have caused “catastrophic damage to the spacecraft” during landing if left untreated, according to a NASA safety panel. . NASA and Boeing then launched a full investigation into Boeing’s OFT and safety culture, coming up with 80 recommendations that Boeing should consider before flying again, such as conducting more simulations and integrated software testing. Boeing has also chosen to replicate OFT, a new mission called OFT-2.
As Boeing worked to prepare for the transition, SpaceX successfully launched its first human crew in May 2020 and has since conducted five NASA crew missions.
Second attempt
Boeing’s second attempt to launch Starliner was due last August, a year and a half after the failed OFT mission. After saying it had implemented all the changes NASA had requested, the company launched Starliner on its launch pad in Florida, ready for launch. But hours before the capsule was scheduled to take off, Boeing stopped the countdown.
The company found that 13 of Starliner’s 24 valves – used to transport the capsule’s oxidizing fuel – were stuck in the wrong position. While Boeing managed to release some of the valves before the scheduled take-off time, some still did not move and the company chose to return the capsule back to the factory for further inspection. Diagnosis of the problem took months and included a CT scan of the valves. The company believes that some of the oxidant in the valves escaped, mixing with the moisture from the humid air in Florida, creating corrosion that prevented the valves from opening properly.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft earlier this month, before the integration of the top of the Atlas V rocket. Image: NASA / Frank Misho
Boeing says it has fixed the problem and is ready to fly again. The valves of this Starliner have been replaced and Boeing has included some additional repairs to ensure that corrosion does not occur again. A sealant was added to prevent moisture from entering the valves, and Boeing did a dry cleaning to remove any additional moisture from the system.
Boeing initially said the valves would remain the same. “We haven’t redesigned the valve at this time,” said Michelle Parker, Boeing’s vice president and deputy general manager for space and launch, at a news conference. “These are the same valves.” However, after a report in Reuters detailing the friction between Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne, the valve manufacturer, over the cause of the stickiness, Boeing acknowledged that the company was considering redesigning the valve.
“The short-term solution is not to have a redesigned valve,” Napie told a news conference. “It simply came to our notice then. And the long-term solution, we considered options for at least a month, if not more, and included redesigning the valve as an option. ”
The future
At the moment, it seems that things are about to start on Thursday. “We did one last cycle of all the valves [on Monday] and they all worked nominally, so we’re in good shape, “Napie said.
If Boeing manages to get Starliner into orbit this time, the main thing the company needs to demonstrate is Starliner’s ability to automatically dock with the International Space Station. This is a critical task that the capsule will have to perform in its missions for human spaceflight. “You can do so much on earth, you can do so much analysis, and then at some point it’s really ready to fly and test these systems,” said Steve Stitch, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. press conference. If the launch is successful, Starliner will try to connect to the International Space Station on Friday afternoon, and the hatch will open on Saturday morning. The capsule will remain attached to the ISS for about four to five days before disconnecting and returning to Earth by landing at White Sands in New Mexico, Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, Edwards Air Force Base in California or Willcox Playa in Arizona. .
“You can do so much on earth”
Anyway, Boeing really needs this mission to go well. Although the company is still one of NASA …
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