The astronauts piloting the inaugural crewed flight of Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft said on July 10 that they are confident the capsule will return them home safely, despite ongoing issues with its propulsion and thruster system.
NASA’s two veteran test pilots for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, have been aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for nearly five weeks after successfully launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 5. They hosted a live briefing from the ISS with reporters on July 10 to discuss the future of the mission and efforts to resolve issues with Starliner before scheduling a return flight.
Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, told reporters on July 10 that Boeing and NASA are “optimistically” looking toward a late-July return window but that nothing is certain yet.
“We'll just follow the data each step at a time. And then, at the right time, figure out when the right undock opportunity is,” he said.
Mr. Wilmore described the June 5 launch as “spectacular” and “truly amazing” and emphasized that he is “absolutely confident” that Boeing’s spacecraft will return him and Ms. Williams safely to Earth.
Ms. Williams suggested that Starliner is ready for a return flight now if necessary.
“I feel confident that if we had to, if there was a problem with the International Space Station, we can get in our spacecraft, and we can undock, talk to our team, and figure out the best way to come home,” she said.
“I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem.”
When asked if Boeing’s years of delays to ready the spacecraft for its first crewed mission has affected his confidence in Starliner, Mr. Wilmore said spaceflight is a “world of test” and that “failure is not an option.”
Testing Ahead of Return Flight
Mr. Stich said NASA is taking time to “build confidence in the spacecraft” to understand the issues that brought the thrusters offline but reiterated that “what we’re doing is not unusual for a new spacecraft.”He said that while Hurricane Beryl hitting Texas created a “little bit of a hiccup” to NASA crews in Texas this week, testing is still underway on another Starliner capsule at White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The goal is to replicate what happened to thrusters before they went offline after takeoff and determine the exact cause of the helium leak.
The issue, Mr. Stich pointed out, is replicating the same temperatures at White Sands that Starliner experienced during flight. The spacecraft is still ready for a return in the event of an emergency, he said.
“If the crew needed to return at any point in time, it’s go for return for any kind of emergency on board [the ISS],” he said.
NASA had stated before launch that Starliner was limited to docking with the ISS for 45 days because of limitations in its battery cells. Mr. Stich explained that battery capacity shouldn’t limit Starliner’s time at the ISS, as the crew hasn’t seen any “degradation” in the cells.
“If you don’t see any signs the battery is degrading, or even cells are degrading, then your risk level for a given day is the same,” he said.
That would mean the risk of the batteries failing would be the same on day 45 as it is today, Mr. Stich said.
Even if Starliner was forced to undergo an emergency undocking and reentry, the propulsion and thruster system could handle the flight, according to Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program.
“If we were to have to do that today, we would just perform a nominal undocking and return,” he said. “The propulsion system is highly redundant on each other, so if there was an issue with any one of the thrusters, the redundancy would take over and bring it safely home again.”
