A file photo of Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams on Starliner
| Photo Credit: AFP/NASA

The two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station since June welcomed their new ride home with Sunday’s (September 29, 2024) arrival of a SpaceX capsule.

SpaceX launched the rescue mission on Saturday (September 28, 2024) with a downsized crew of two astronauts and two empty seats reserved for Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who will return next year. The Dragon capsule docked in darkness as the two craft soared 265 miles (426 kilometers) above Botswana.

NASA switched Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams to SpaceX following concerns over the safety of their Boeing Starliner capsule. It was the first Starliner test flight with a crew, and NASA decided the thruster failures and helium leaks cropped up after liftoff were too serious and poorly understood to risk the test pilots’ return. So Starliner returned to Earth empty earlier this month.

The Dragon carrying NASA’s Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency’s Alexander Gorbunov will remain at the space station until February, turning what should have been a weeklong trip for Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams into a mission lasting more than eight months.

Two NASA astronauts were pulled from the mission to make room for Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams on the return leg.

“I just want to say welcome to our new compadres,” Ms. Williams, the space station commander, said once Mr. Hague and Mr. Gorbunov floated inside and were embraced by the nine astronauts awaiting them.

Mr. Hague said it was a smooth flight up. “Coming through the hatch and seeing all the smiles, and as much as I’ve laughed and cried in the last 10 minutes, I know it’s going to be an amazing expedition,” he said.

NASA likes to replace its station crews every six months or so. SpaceX has provided the taxi service since the company’s first astronaut flight in 2020. NASA also hired Boeing for ferry flights after the space shuttles were retired, but flawed software and other Starliner issues led to years of delays and more than $1 billion in repairs.

Starliner inspections are underway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, with post-flight reviews of data set to begin this week.

“We’re a long way from saying, ‘Hey, we’re writing off Boeing,’” NASA’s associate administrator Jim Free said at a pre-launch briefing.

The arrival of two fresh astronauts means the four who have been up there since March can now return to Earth in their own SpaceX capsule in just over a week, bringing the station’s crew size back down to the normal seven. Their stay was extended a month because of the Starliner turmoil.

Although Saturday’s (September 28, 2024) liftoff went well, SpaceX said the rocket’s spent upper stage ended up outside its targeted impact zone in the Pacific because of a bad engine firing. The company has halted all Falcon launches until it figures out what went wrong.was extended a month because of the Starliner turmoil.

Washington:

Boeing’s first crewed Starliner test flight, carrying NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, has been stuck in space for the past two months. The journey, originally an eight-day mission, has now completed 80 days in space.

NASA officials will provide an update on the mission on Saturday, August 24, detailing their strategy for bringing the astronauts back to Earth. The press conference is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT). It will be headlined by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson along with other agency representatives. You can watch the live telecast on the NASA app and its YouTube channel at 10:30 pm IST.

Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore were sent on an eight-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5. However, the pair’s return was postponed indefinitely due to helium leaks and many thruster malfunctions on the spacecraft. 

To comprehend the technical issues, NASA and Boeing have collected information about the spacecraft’s helium and propulsion systems from both space and the ground.

According to the official statement, the review scheduled for later on Saturday will cover a mission status report, closeout actions, and a review of technical data. It will also certify flight rationale to proceed with undocking and return from the space station.

Meanwhile, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have integrated with the rest of the crew currently aboard the International Space Station and are conducting routine tasks.

As part of its private Crew Program, NASA selected two private spacecraft, Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The present trip of Boeing’s Starliner, the Crew Flight Test, is the company’s first of at least six scheduled crewed missions for NASA under the multibillion-dollar contract. SpaceX has performed nine crewed flights for NASA since 2020 apart from numerous private missions of its own).

NASA astronaut Suni Williams (seated L) and Butch Wilmore (seated R) pose with the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) after the docking of the Boeing Starliner on June 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Problems with Boeing’s Starliner capsule, still docked at the International Space Station (ISS), have upended the original plans for its return of its two astronauts to Earth, as last-minute fixes and tests draw out a mission crucial to the future of Boeing’s space division.

NASA has rescheduled the planned return three times and now has no date set for it.

Since its June 5 lift-off, the capsule has had five helium leaks, five manoeuvring thrusters go dead and a propellant valve failed to close completely, prompting the crew in space and mission managers in Houston to spend more time than expected pursuing fixes mid-mission.

Here is an explanation of potential paths forward for Starliner and its veteran NASA astronauts, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams.

The current situation

Starliner can stay docked at the ISS for up to 45 days, according to comments by NASA’s commercial crew manager Steve Stich to reporters. But, if necessary, such as if more problems arise that mission officials cannot fix in time, it could stay docked for up to 72 days, relying on various backup systems, according to a person familiar with flight planning.

Internally at NASA, Starliner’s latest targeted return date is July 6, according to a source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Such a return date would mean that the mission, originally planned for eight days, instead would last a month.

Starliner’s expendable propulsion system is part of the craft’s “service module.” The current problems centre on this system, which is needed to back the capsule away from the ISS and position it to dive through Earth’s atmosphere. Many of Starliner’s thrusters have overheated when fired, and the helium leaks — used to pressurise the thrusters — appear to be connected to how frequently they are used, according to Mr. Stich.

Mr. Stich said recent test-firings of the thrusters while Starliner remains docked gave mission teams confidence in a safe return, though tests and reviews are ongoing. The mission management team, made up of NASA and Boeing personnel, is scrutinising data on the propulsion issues, running simulations in Houston and considering how to fix them, such as by updating software or changing how the hardware is used.

Once NASA officials give the team a go-ahead for a return, Starliner’s thrusters would be used to undock the capsule from the ISS and begin a roughly six-hour journey home, gradually tightening its orbit before plunging into Earth’s atmosphere for a landing, assisted by parachutes and airbags, at one of several potential locations in the southwestern United States.

This is Starliner’s first mission to orbit carrying astronauts — the final test needed before NASA can certify it as the U.S. space agency’s second ride to the ISS.

It would join SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which has dominated the government and nascent private markets for human spaceflight amid Starliner’s years-long delays.

If the unexpected happens

Even with the propulsion system issues, NASA has said Starliner still would be capable of returning the astronauts to Earth if absolutely necessary — that is, if the capsule must serve as an escape pod from the ISS in an emergency or if any of Starliner’s perishable items such as its solar panels show signs of expiring earlier than planned.

Unlike Starliner’s current mission, NASA did not set a scheduled return date for Crew Dragon’s first mission carrying astronauts in 2020. That mission ultimately lasted 62 days because the astronauts needed to help out on ISS maintenance because the space station was short-staffed at the time.

If the Starliner cannot be used

If Starliner is deemed incapable of safely returning Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams to Earth, one option would be sending them home aboard Crew Dragon, which ferried four astronauts to the station in March and is able to fit more people in an emergency.

That scenario, considered unlikely, would undoubtedly be embarrassing for Boeing. But NASA and Boeing officials, as well as engineers familiar with the programme, told Reuters nothing about Starliner’s current problems indicates this would be needed.

In such a scenario, Starliner’s fate would depend on various factors including the extent of its technical issues.

The last time a NASA astronaut needed an alternative ride home came in 2022, when Russia’s Soyuz capsule sprang a coolant leak after delivering to the station two cosmonauts and American astronaut Frank Rubio.

NASA had considered Crew Dragon as an alternative ride home for Rubio but he eventually used an empty Soyuz capsule that Russia launched as a rescue craft. Rubio’s mission was extended from six months to a bit more than a year — 371 days — a record-breaking duration for an American in space.