Boeing’s first Starliner capsule next to the International Space Station is officially open to astronauts living aboard the orbital laboratory.
Advertising Starliner spacecraft, who arrived on Friday on a test flight without a crew to the station, was discovered by NASA astronaut Robert Hines at 12:04 a.m. EDT (1604 GMT) to begin about five days of capsule testing. This is an important milestone for Boeing and NASA’s sales crew program, which chose Boeing and SpaceX to fly astronauts to the International Space Station in 2014.
“This is the day they imagined, in which we have three vehicles rated by people hooked up to the space station at the moment,” Hines said, referring to Starliner, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Russia’s Soyuz capsule. “So this is an important day in NASA’s history and it’s just paving the way for the future as we begin to allow commercial flights here in low Earth orbit as NASA visits the moon and possibly Mars.
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SpaceX has completed five astronaut flights for NASA since May 2020, but Boeing’s Starliner has had a more rocky path.
Starliner failed to reach the ISS during the first OFT in December 2019 due to software problemsand then his second attempt was cleared hours before take-off in August 2021, after the mission team discovered jammed valves in the capsule drive system. These issues did not recur for the current Starliner test flight, called the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2). (Although there were some minor issues with the thruster and cooling system and a slight delay during docking.)
“These are the things we expect in flight tests and that’s why we’re testing,” Hines said Saturday. “If we don’t find something like that, we’re probably doing something wrong.”
NASA astronaut Robert Hines is touring the Starliner spacecraft. The capsule pilot’s seat can be seen in the lower right corner. (Image credit: NASA TV)
The malfunction of the pusher shortly after the start on Thursday does not seem to be related to the previous problems the car had. At a press briefing after the launch on Thursday night, representatives of NASA and Boeing doubled their trust in Starliner to complete its mission, despite new engine problems.
“The system is designed to be redundant and work as it should,” said Mark Napie, vice president and program manager for Boeing’s crew crew program.
Starliner spent Thursday night chasing the orbital lab, and she began performing rendezvous test maneuvers shortly after 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT) on Friday. Before moving to the dock, the capsule successfully demonstrated its ability to stop on command, as well as to withdraw away from the station in case of emergency.
Satisfied with the results, Boeing flight operators instructed Starliner to begin docking procedures, and the vehicle began its slow progress toward the station’s Harmony module. At 20:28 EDT on Friday (0028 GMT on May 21), Starliner officially docks with the International Space Station.
Over the next few days, crew members aboard the orbital lab will empty the 500-pound (226 kg) Starliner supplies and provisions, then pack its hull with nearly 600 pounds (270 kg) of cargo marked for return to Earth.
Remaining aboard the Starliner will be a Boeing test dummy lovingly named Rosie the Rocketwoman, named after Rosie, the hanger of World War II fame. Dressed in one of Boeing’s blue spacesuits, Rosie will remain tied up at Starliner’s command post for the trip back to Earth.
Rosie’s sensors were used to measure the g-forces tested on the body during Strainer’s first test flight. The OFT-2 sensors are now used to measure the effects of the same forces on Starliner seats during re-entry and landing. The Starliner is scheduled to return to Earth after a four- to five-day stay in the space station, a timeline largely dictated by the time of potential landing sites in the western United States.
Boeing added fun to Starliner’s trip to the space station in the form of a plush toy by Jebediah “Jeb” Kerman, Kerbonaut from the hit space exploration game Kerbal Space Program, which Boeing uses as a zero g indicator to show when the capsule is reached space.
Editor’s note: This story, originally published at 6 a.m. EDT, was updated at 2 p.m. ET with details of the astronauts’ opening of the Starliner hatch.
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