After two trips to the launch pad that ultimately didn’t lead to space, two NASA astronauts finally headed into orbit on Wednesday in a vehicle built by aerospace giant Boeing.
The first trip of the Starliner, a 15-foot-wide capsule, with astronauts aboard comes four years and six days after SpaceX, another company hired by NASA to provide astronaut rides, launched its first mission with astronauts to the International Space Station. . Boeing is now ready to provide that service as well, but a series of costly delays has repeatedly prevented astronauts from flying the company’s vehicle earlier. SpaceX, once seen as an upstart, has sent a total of 13 crews into orbit.
Boeing’s long-awaited flight is the latest step in NASA’s efforts to rely more on the private sector for its spaceflight program.
“This is another milestone in this extraordinary history of NASA,” said Bill Nelson, NASA administrator during a post-launch news conference.
When the Starliner arrives at the space station on Thursday, it will join the SpaceX Crew Dragon cabin already docked there. NASA officials have consistently maintained that they want to have two different U.S. spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts into orbit.
“We always like to have a backup,” Mr. Nelson said. “That’s safer for our astronauts.”
If the vehicle’s mission goes well, it will also provide good news for Boeing, whose aviation safety record is under heavy scrutiny after a side panel on an Alaska Airlines jet exploded during a flight earlier this year.
Boeing’s space division was also under pressure, with work on the Starliner dragging on for years longer than the company or NASA had expected. Technical difficulties included insufficient software testing, corroded propellant valves, flammable tape, and a key part of the parachute system that proved weaker than expected.
Minutes before liftoff, Butch Wilmore, the mission commander, said, “Let’s fire up this rocket. Let’s push it to the skies.”
Suni Williams, the other crew member who serves as the pilot, added, “Let’s go, Calypso, take us to space and back,” referring to the name she gave the capsule after the ship used by oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.
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“Suni and I are honored to share this dream of space flight with each of you. So with that, let’s get going and let’s light this rocket and push it skyward while those rough Americans set it up.” “Let’s go, Calypso. Take us to space and back.”
At 10:52 a.m. ET, the Atlas V rocket’s engines ignited and lifted the Starliner spacecraft on an arcing journey into space. The launch and early parts of today’s orbital flight provided a welcome relief that went smoothly.
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“Houston, Starliner. “Roger.”
“I’m smiling, believe me,” said Mark Nappi, the Boeing official responsible for the Starliner. “But it’s a bit of a controlled emotion because this mission has many phases. And we just finished the first one.”
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“You have good gas. “Good gas. “Good SRB burnout.” “Good SRB.”
A minor glitch related to the system that provides cooling during the drive to orbit. The cooling system, known as a sublimator, used a bit more water than expected. Once in orbit, the spacecraft switched to a different cooling system, a chiller, and while engineers investigate what happened, it won’t affect the mission.
Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams are due to join the station at 12.15pm on Thursday.
Along the way, Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams take time to try hand-flying the spacecraft, which is not usually necessary except in an emergency. Life support systems will also be fully reviewed.
The astronauts will then spend at least eight days on the space station before returning to Earth. The mission has a total of 87 test targets. “There are a lot of, I’ll call them ergonomic types of flight test targets,” Mr Nappi said. “How do the seats fit? How do suits work? What do the displays look like?”
After the mission, NASA and Boeing will review the flight data to complete Starliner’s certification. The spacecraft would then be ready to begin operational flights once a year to carry NASA crews for six-month stays on the space station. Each Starliner capsule — Boeing has two for orbital missions — is designed for 10 missions.
The journey to Wednesday’s flight took years.
In 2014, NASA awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX, the rocket company run by Elon Musk, to build replacements for the shuttles that carried astronauts to and from the space station before they were retired in 2011. astronauts into orbit on Soyuz rockets.
Congress was skeptical and repeatedly cut the money NASA was seeking for the commercial crew program. At the time, SpaceX was rising, but not the dominant force it has become in the rocket launch industry today. Boeing’s selection helped reassure lawmakers that NASA was investing wisely.
NASA initially said SpaceX’s Starliner and Crew Dragon could be ready by 2017.
It took longer than planned for both companies, which is not uncommon in the airline industry.
But in December 2019, Boeing appeared to be in a domestic environment. Then a test of the Starliner without astronauts on board went awry due to software problems, and the planned docking was called off. NASA called the flight a “high-visibility close call” because software errors could have resulted in the destruction of the spacecraft if not corrected before re-entry.
Boeing and NASA decided to repeat the test without a crew, but this test was delayed by corroded propellant valves, and the Starliner did not take off again until May 2022.
Then other problems arose. The protective tape that was wrapped around the wiring insulation proved to be flammable and key, but a weak part of the parachute system could break if the Starliner’s three parachutes failed to deploy properly.
These delays cost Boeing $1.4 billion, and while the Starliner remained on the ground, SpaceX launched nine crewed missions for NASA (one, Crew-8, is currently docked on the station) and four other commercial non-NASA passenger missions on on board.
This year’s round of launch attempts began on May 6. The flight was thwarted by a malfunctioning valve on the Atlas V rocket. A small helium leak was then discovered in the Starliner’s propulsion system, prompting a weeks-long investigation.
The second launch attempt on Saturday was cut to 3 minutes and 50 seconds before the start, until the computers that autonomously process the final parts of the launch sequence encountered a problem and stopped the countdown.
Over the next few days, technicians replaced the faulty power component, setting the stage for Wednesday’s successful launch.
Niraj Chokshi contributed reporting.