When they left Earth, a number of technical problems arose with the spacecraft. The Starliner relies on small rocket motors to keep it in the right position. The craft is particularly dependent on these engines when returning to Earth. VITAL: The Starliner has 28 of these MR-104J rocket motors in its attitude control system. Five of them failed on the trip to the International Space Station. Photo: Aerojet Rocketdyne If the Starliner is in the wrong position when it has to slow down to enter the thicker part of the atmosphere, things will probably go wrong. The spacecraft may burn up, or it may remain in space with no possibility of return. What should have been eight days on the International Space Station has now become over 40 days. NASA has very strict requirements for security. The organization does not want to use a spacecraft that is subject to doubt. The two astronauts must therefore use another spacecraft to get home if such a doubt exists. PART OF THE CREW: Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore repairing one of the toilets on the International Space Station. They must expect a long stay. Photo: Nasa Lekkasje The problems come on top of a number of others that have affected the Starliner program. It is the giant Boeing that builds the Starliner. This was the first time they were going to transport people with the Starliner. The aim was to show that the product worked as ordered. Boeing has not managed that. In addition, helium gas is leaking from the Starliner. The gas is needed by the craft to make the rocket engines work. Nasa believes the leaks are so small that there should be enough helium for a longer stay at the station. The many problems with the Starliner have given rise to a good deal of backlash against the vessel and Boeing. A well-profiled contributor to room humor is Norwegian Ulrik Falk-Petersen. THE STUFF: The many problems experienced by the Starliner have led to a lot of humor among those interested in space travel. This was drawn by the Norwegian Ulrik Falk-Petersen, Photo: Ulrik Falk-Petersen/Daily Hopper Cool hot Five of the engines got too hot and shut down during the journey up to the International Space Station, ISS. – We noticed that the cloud power and control were getting worse, so I took over control from the autopilot, astronaut Butch Wilmore tells the press. A LITTLE LONGER: Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams hold a press conference in the International Space Station. There they will remain until Nasa finds a solution for their return to Earth. Photo: Nasa After several rounds of testing, the autopilot took over again and steered the spacecraft into a successful connection with the ISS. It managed that despite the weaknesses with the engines. The craft has been tethered to the ISS since then, while engineers on the ground have been left scratching their heads. Can’t find the error A copy of the rocket engines has been tested on Earth. Nasa carried out the same series of launches as the Starliner had done. They were unable to reproduce the error. OTHERWISE WORKS FINE: Starliner docked with the International Space Station while flying over Libya. Egypt and the Nile Delta are in the background. Photo: Nasa – The temperature we got was not quite what we had hoped for, Steve Stich tells the press. He heads Nasa’s Office of Commercial Human Spaceflight. NASA will continue the testing. They want to achieve the same thing that happened in the room. Then they can examine the engine and see if it has been damaged. At least one of the engines in the room was damaged by the high temperature. The testing in the room has shown that. SAFE HARBOR: The International Space Station has plenty of space for guests. The two Starliner astronauts have been put to work. Photo: Nasa Deadline The aim of all the testing is to find out whether it is safe to send the two astronauts back with the Starliner. If Nasa finds that there is an acceptable risk associated with a trip home with Starliner, then it can happen in mid-August, says manager Stich. Nasa is open that there is a ticking clock. The batteries on the Starliner are only approved for 45 days after launch. That deadline is fast approaching. – The batteries behave well, so we’ll see what we can do with that approval, says Stich. THE ALTERNATIVE: A Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX on the launch pad in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Photo: SpaceX Maybe back with something else Nasa says it is looking at alternatives to Starliner, but that it assumes astronauts Williams and Wilmore will return with Starliner. That is, if the testing does not reveal that it will not be safe. The alternative is most likely to use a Dragon from SpaceX. That solution got a little more complicated last week. Then Dragon’s launch vehicle, the Falcon 9, failed for the first time in ten years. Falcon 9 has been grounded until an investigation has been completed. MORE FROM HOPPER: It is nevertheless serious for the space industry that the supremely most used space rocket in the world has been grounded. Photo: Ulrik Falk-Petersen/Daily Hopper There is already a Dragon at the space station, but it is the lifeboat of the crew that went up into space with it. So it is unlikely that the Starliner astronauts will be allowed to borrow it. This means that if the Starliner is rejected, it may take many months before the two can return home from space. Published 17.07.2024, at 21.53
ttn-69
The clock is ticking for astronauts with damaged spacecraft – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
