Article

2024-06-21 Science & Technology

Starliner stuck on ISS for several more days due to engine problems

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

I think the word the writer is looking for is marooned.

[Regnum] NASA and Boeing have again delayed the return of the Starliner capsule to Earth due to ongoing problems with the engines and helium leaks, writes the British newspaper Daily Mail.

The mission of the spacecraft, which was originally scheduled to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) on June 18, was last week extended until at least June 22. Now NASA and Boeing experts have decided that the ship will remain in low-Earth orbit until at least June 26.

According to them, the ship's long stay in orbit will provide more time to study the key problems that Starliner encountered during flight - malfunctions of the attitude control engines and helium leaks. These problems are recorded in the service module, which does not return to Earth and must burn up when the ship enters the atmosphere. Of the 87 tests planned for the expedition, 77 have already been completed, the remaining ten will be carried out during undocking and landing.

On June 5 at 17:52 Moscow time, an Atlas V rocket with a manned Starliner spacecraft launched from the Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome in the US state of Florida. On board for the first time were NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams. The ship docked with the Harmony module of the American segment of the ISS on June 6, at approximately 20:33.

Experts say NASA may be forced to launch a rescue operation, which would be a huge blow for Boeing, which has faced many problems associated with its commercial aircraft, the newspaper writes. According to the agency, the Starliner capsule is safe for astronauts, and they will still try to return them to Earth using this ship.

The first manned launch of the Starliner spacecraft to the ISS was postponed on May 7. The reason for the cancellation of the launch was a malfunction of the oxygen valve of the second stage of the launch vehicle. Due to problems with the spacecraft, the astronauts were delayed on the ISS on June 1. A similar situation occurred on June 15.

In 2022, at that time, the General Director of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, announced that the state corporation would not allow Russian cosmonauts to fly on American Starliner spacecraft, since it could not risk their lives.

Posted by badanov 2024-06-21 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11133 views ] Top

#1 Amazing! Free enterprise is better than government committee engineering!~ Who'd thunk it?

Posted by `AlmostAmonymous5839 2024-06-21 10:40|| 2024-06-21 10:40|| Front Page Top

#2 I suppose if you think United Launch Alliance is Free Enterprise and not a subsidiary and fiefdom of Big Govt Bureaucracy - MIC.

Posted by mossomo 2024-06-21 13:01|| 2024-06-21 13:01|| Front Page Top

#3 Boeing's problem was being an early all-in adopter of DEI. It may be too late for them to reverse course.

Musk could acquire them and do his patented (or should be patented) dismiss 80% of the front office headcount.

Posted by M. Murcek 2024-06-21 13:18|| 2024-06-21 13:18|| Front Page Top

#4 Better than being stuck on a runway tarmac for hours in unventilated tube of an airplane with god knows what fellow creatures.

Posted by Procopius2k 2024-06-21 13:37|| 2024-06-21 13:37|| Front Page Top

#5 /\ Amen to that.

Posted by Besoeker 2024-06-21 13:50|| 2024-06-21 13:50|| Front Page Top

#6 Hard to imagine there's a rocket repair and towing service out there.

Posted by Skidmark 2024-06-21 20:01|| 2024-06-21 20:01|| Front Page Top

05:26 Skidmark
05:19 Skidmark
04:53 Grom the Affective
04:48 no mo uro
04:39 Seeking Cure For Ignorance
04:04 Grom the Affective
02:32 Fairbanks
00:43 Skidmark
00:24 Skidmark
00:19 EMS Artifact
00:06 Rambler
00:03 Rambler