Tag: International Space Station

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Report blames NASA and Boeing for Starliner screw-ups

Starliner in the dark desert
Boeing’s Starliner space capsule sits in the New Mexico desert after its uncrewed return to Earth in 2024. (Boeing Photo)

Nearly two years after Boeing’s botched Starliner mission to the International Space Station, NASA put the mishap in the same category as the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters — and said the spacecraft wouldn’t carry another crew until dozens of corrective actions are taken.

Based on the findings from an independent panel’s 311-page report, NASA classified the crewed test mission in 2024 as a Type A mishap, primarily because five of the thrusters in the Starliner spacecraft’s propulsion system failed during the capsule’s approach to the ISS. The crew was able to regain control of four of those thrusters, but NASA decided not to send astronauts back to Earth on the Starliner due to safety concerns.

Instead, the craft was flown back for a landing without crew, three months after the docking. The two astronauts who rode Starliner to orbit were stuck aboard the station for more than nine months while they waited for a ride back home inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Today’s report faults NASA’s leadership as well as Boeing’s team for the mission’s failings.

“Starliner has design and engineering deficiencies that must be corrected, but the most troubling failure revealed by this investigation is not hardware,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who took over as the space agency’s chief in December, wrote in a letter to NASA employees that was also posted to X. “It is decision-making and leadership that, if left unchecked, could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight.”

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Starliner spacecraft wraps up its crewless journey home

Starliner in the dark desert
Boeing’s Starliner space capsule sits in the New Mexico desert after its uncrewed return to Earth in 2024. (Boeing Photo)

It wasn’t perfect, but the propulsion system that NASA worried about did its job today as Boeing’s Starliner space capsule made an uncrewed descent from the International Space Station back down to Earth.

The gumdrop-shaped spacecraft, christened Calypso, floated down to a parachute-assisted, airbag-cushioned touchdown at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. “Starliner is back on Earth,” Boeing commentator Lauren Brennecke said.

Starliner’s first crewed trip to the space station was supposed to last only about a week, but when the capsule made its approach for docking on June 6, five thrusters out of a set of 28 malfunctioned. Four of the thrusters were reactivated, and NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams executed a successful docking. But concerns about the thrusters — and about a string of helium leaks in the propulsion pressurization system — sparked weeks of troubleshooting by NASA and Boeing.

Engineers decided that they could cope with the helium leaks, but the thruster problem was a bigger concern. Tests determined that the propulsion system’s performance was degraded by overheating that exceeded design specifications.

Two weeks ago, NASA said the uncertainties surrounding the system’s performance were too great to risk having Williams and Wilmore ride back to Earth on Starliner. Instead, the astronauts were told to remain on the station for months longer than originally planned.

To accommodate the personnel shift, NASA reduced the size of the next scheduled crew, known as Crew-9, from four to two spacefliers. That crew is due to go into orbit in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on Sept. 24. Williams and Wilmore will join Crew-9 and return to Earth in the SpaceX capsule next February.

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NASA decides to keep astronauts in orbit months longer

Starliner docked to ISS
Boeing’s Starliner capsule is shown docked to the International Space Station with a turning Earth in the background. (NASA Photo)

NASA has decided it’s too risky to have Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft return to Earth from the International Space Station with its two crew members, and so those astronauts will extend their stay by several months and come back on a SpaceX Dragon capsule instead. Starliner, which has been in the midst of its first crewed flight after years of delay, will be reprogrammed to make an uncrewed departure from the space station next month.

Top mission managers said today that they decided unanimously to make a dramatic change in what was originally expected to be a test flight lasting only a couple of weeks. They said there was too much uncertainty surrounding the thruster problems that cropped up during Starliner’s trip to the space station in early June.

“All of us really wanted to complete the test flight with crew, and I think unanimously we’re disappointed not to be able to do that,” said Ken Bowersox, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Boeing “worked hard” to address questions about the thruster system, but in the end, the space agency took what it considered to be the safer course. He said NASA learned its lessons from “mistakes done in the past,” including safety lapses that led to space shuttle disasters in 1986 and 2003.

“Our core value is safety, and it is our North Star,” Nelson said.

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Starliner crew might have to return in a Dragon in 2025

View of Boeing Starliner craft docked to International Space Station
An image captured through the window of a SpaceX capsule shows Boeing’s Starliner capsule at the International Space Station. (NASA Photo)

Continuing concerns about the thruster system on Boeing’s Starliner space capsule may lead NASA to decide against letting astronauts take the craft back down to Earth from the International Space Station, mission managers said today.

In such a scenario, the two astronauts who rode to the ISS in Starliner for the capsule’s first crewed test mission in June would fly back down in a SpaceX Dragon capsule next February.

“We haven’t approved this plan,” Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, told journalists during a teleconference. “In other words, we’ve done all the work to make sure this plan is there.”

Going ahead with the contingency plan would require shuffling arrangements for the next crew that’s due to take a Dragon to the ISS, known as Crew-9.

That crew would be cut back from four to two astronauts. Starliner’s test pilots, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, would remain on the station for Crew-9’s tour of duty and return to Earth with Crew-9 as part of the regular rotation.

This week NASA pushed back Crew-9’s scheduled launch to no earlier than Sept. 24 to accommodate potential changes. Because of the parking arrangements at the station, the Starliner capsule would have to undock from the station before the Crew-9 launch and make an uncrewed, robotically controlled descent and landing.

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Gravitics makes a $125M space station deal with Axiom

Illustration: Gravitics spacecraft in orbit
An artist's conception shows Gravitics' spacecraft in orbit. (Gravitics Illustration)

Marysville, Wash.-based Gravitics says it has won a $125 million contract from Axiom Space to provide a pressurized spacecraft for Axiom’s yet-to-be-launched commercial space station.

The hardware would play a utility role by providing a variety of support services for Axiom Station.

Axiom Station’s first space module is being built by Thales Alenia Space. That habitation module would be attached to the International Space Station in the 2026 time frame, and when it’s time for the ISS to be retired, Axiom plans to detach its hardware to serve as a standalone orbital outpost.

Gravitics would help Axiom build out its orbital infrastructure. The startup, founded in 2021, offers a product line of spacecraft ranging in diameter from 3 meters (10 feet) to a Starship-sized 8 meters (26 feet). The spacecraft to be built for Axiom will be 4 meters (13 feet) in diameter, with its own propulsion system and power system.

Gravitics’ deal with Axiom points the way toward an ecosystem for building and operating commercial space stations.

“Axiom Space and Gravitics are working together to develop space infrastructure to enable a sustainable global space economy in low-Earth orbit,” Matt Ondler, president of Axiom Space, said today in a news release. “Our next-gen platform, Axiom Station, will provide new pathways to space for traditional space users and non-traditional industries. We are expanding commercial opportunities in space, from in-space manufacturing to technology demonstrations to research and innovative solutions that will advance civilization.”

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Cosmic Space

NASA picks SpaceX to create a space station killer

Illustration: U.S. Deorbit Vehicle
An artist's conception shows SpaceX's Deorbit Vehicle in action. (Credit: SpaceX)

Spacecraft built by SpaceX have been servicing the International Space Station since 2012, and now NASA has chosen SpaceX to build the spacecraft that’ll take the station down to its doom in 2030.

The space agency announced today that SpaceX has been selected to develop and deliver the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle that will provide the capability to push the station into a fiery but controlled descent through the atmosphere. The deed will have to be done in a way that makes sure any debris falls harmlessly in an unpopulated area — for example, a remote part of the Pacific Ocean known as Point Nemo.

NASA laid out its plan for deorbiting the space station at the end of its operating life two years ago. At the time, mission planners suggested that Russian Progress supply ships or Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft might play a part in the denouement.

Today’s announcement makes clear that a SpaceX craft will take on the curtain-closing role. However, NASA will take ownership of the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle once it’s developed, and operate it through the final mission. No astronauts will be aboard the station during the robotically guided re-entry, and the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle is expected to break up along with the rest of the space station.

NASA said the single-award contract has a total potential value of $843 million. Launch service will be covered in a future procurement.

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Exhibit celebrates space station dreams and realities

Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger in front of Museum of Flight's selfie station
Retired NASA astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger takes selfies at the Museum of Flight. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

The dream of having people live and work in space didn’t start with billionaire Jeff Bezos, or even with rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun. Instead, you’d have to look back at least as far as 1869 — a full century before humans walked on the moon.

That’s just one of the fun facts you’ll learn from the Museum of Flight’s new exhibition, “Home Beyond Earth,” which opens today.

Geoff Nunn, the museum’s adjunct curator for space history, said this exhibit is meant to provide fun as well as education in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

“One of our goals was to go beyond the STEM of it, and really look at the underlying cultural connection and human fascination with living and working in space,” Nunn said. “Ultimately, we want everyone who comes through this exhibit, whether or not they’re interested in science and engineering, to think about how the space community is changing.”

The 1869 version of the space station dream serves as an example. Back then, Edward Everett Hale wrote “The Brick Moon,” a serialized novella about an artificial satellite that was built from bricks. The Museum of Flight’s team adapted an illustration from the story to create a 3D-printed model of the masonry moon, complete with tiny figures and palm trees sticking up from the top of the globe.

Other displays trace the evolution of the space station concept through the 1950s, when Walt Disney turned von Braun’s vision of a rotating space station into a TV show … the 1960s, when “2001: A Space Odyssey” picked up on the idea … the 1970s, when the Soviets and the Americans put up their first space stations … the 1980s and ’90s, when Russia’s Mir space station helped bridge the Cold War divide … leading up to the present-day era of the International Space Station.

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Boeing’s Starliner docks with space station after a glitch

View of Starliner from International Space Station
A view from the International Space Station shows Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft during its approach for docking. (NASA via YouTube)

Boeing’s Starliner capsule and its two-person NASA crew arrived at the International Space Station today after mission managers coped with some post-launch glitches involving the spacecraft’s propulsion system.

“Today’s docking, I think, was challenging,” Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, told reporters after Starliner’s arrival. “We had a few things we had to work through as a team.”

One of the glitches had to do with the thrusters that are used to maneuver the gumdrop-shaped capsule in orbit. Five of the 28 thrusters initially malfunctioned — which forced NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams to put their final approach to the station on hold for more than an hour.

Four of the balky thrusters were successfully reactivated, clearing the way for the docking procedure to resume.

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Boeing’s Starliner begins its first crewed space mission

Atlas V launch with Starliner capsule
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket lifts off from its Florida launch pad, sending Boeing’s Starliner capsule into space. (NASA via YouTube)

Two NASA astronauts were sent into space today to begin the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, making a shakedown cruise to the International Space Station and back after years of costly setbacks and two scrubbed countdowns.

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:52 a.m. ET (7:52 a.m. PT), sending Starliner and its crew — NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams — to the International Space Station.

“Let’s get going,” Wilmore told Mission Control just before launch. “Let’s put some fire in this rocket.”

The Atlas V rose smoothly into a mostly sunny sky, and within minutes, the gumdrop-shaped capsule separated from the rocket’s Centaur upper stage to continue its rise to orbit.

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Computer scrubs crewed launch of Starliner space taxi

Atlas V rocket with Starliner space capsule
An Atlas V rocket, topped by Boeing’s Starliner space capsule, stands on its Florida launch pad. (NASA via YouTube)

For the second time in a month, the first crewed launch of Boeing’s Starliner space capsule to the International Space Station was called off while the crew members were in their seats, waiting for liftoff.

The hold was automatically triggered by the launch-pad computer system that manages the final minutes of the countdown for Starliner’s launch vehicle, an Atlas V rocket provided by United Launch Alliance.

The ground launch sequencer forced an end to today’s launch attempt at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with just three minutes and 50 seconds remaining in the countdown. Mission managers started investigating what triggered the alarm even as the launch pad team began the process of helping NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams out of the capsule.

United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno said the automated launch sequencer triggered an alarm because a circuit card on one of three redundant computer racks came up about six seconds more slowly than the other two. That particular card controls activities that free up the rocket for liftoff.

“For that system, we do require all three systems to be running. … Two came up normally. The third one came up, but it was slow to come up,” Bruno said at a news briefing. “That tripped a red line that created an automatic hold.”

The NASA-ULA-Boeing team said it would pass up a launch opportunity on June 2 to give engineers more time to assess the situation. The computer problem could be due to faulty hardware, which would be relatively simple to swap out, or it could be a more complex issue involving network connections between the computers.

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