Tag: International Space Station

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NASA, Boeing trace roots of Starliner’s bad timing

Starliner
An artist’s conception shows Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi in orbit. (Boeing Illustration)

NASA and Boeing say they’ve learned more about the timing glitch that kept Boeing’s uncrewed CST-100 Starliner space taxi from making its planned rendezvous with the International Space Station — and they’re getting “an enormous amount of data” in advance of Sunday’s planned touchdown.

Starliner was launched early Dec. 20 on what was supposed to be the last flight test before astronauts climbed on board. About a half-hour after launch, the mission went awry when a scheduled orbital insertion burn didn’t happen.

Ground controllers scrambled to get the autonomously controlled spacecraft into a stable orbit, but in the process, so much thruster fuel was used up that the boosting maneuvers for getting to the space station had to be canceled.

NASA and Boeing decided to pursue as many of the test objectives as they could without flying to the station, and made plans for Dec. 22’s early touchdown at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

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Starliner space taxi falls short on first flight

Starliner launch
Boeing’s Starliner space taxi lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. (NASA Photo / Joel Kowsky)

Boeing’s Starliner space taxi blasted off for the first time today on an uncrewed mission to the International Space Station, but ran into a problem that precluded a space station rendezvous.

The anomaly is sure to complicate preparations for the crewed Starliner mission that’s supposed to follow up on the uncrewed test flight. But NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the crewed mission could go ahead as planned without first having to do another uncrewed test.

“I think it’s too early for us to make that assessment,” Bridenstine said at a post-launch news conference.

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All systems go for Starliner space taxi’s first flight

Starliner on pad
Perched atop its Atlas 5 rocket, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi is being prepared for launch. (United Launch Alliance Photo)

After conducting a flight readiness review today, NASA gave its go-ahead for launching Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi on an uncrewed demonstration flight to the International Space Station on Dec. 20.

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SpaceX launches cargo craft with mighty mice

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from its Florida launch pad, sending a robotic Dragon cargo ship into space. (SpaceX via YouTube)

A fresh SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a recycled robotic Dragon cargo capsule today, carrying 5,700 pounds of supplies, satellites and science to the International Space Station.

In contrast with Dec. 4’s planned launch attempt, which was called off due to excessively high upper-level winds, today’s countdown proceeded smoothly to liftoff at 12:29 p.m. ET (9:29 a.m. PT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Minutes after launch, the Falcon 9’s first stage fell away as planned and flew itself back for touchdown on a drone ship stationed hundreds of miles out in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX went with an at-sea landing of the first stage today so that it could put the second stage through a long-duration thermal test.

The Dragon cargo craft, meanwhile, continued onward toward the space station for SpaceX’s 19th cargo resupply mission under a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA. It’s due to rendezvous on Dec. 8 and will be pulled in for a berthing using the station’s robotic arm.

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NASA’s in the market for quick space taxi rides

Starliner and space station
An artist’s conception shows a Boeing Starliner space taxi approaching the International Space Station. (Boeing Illustration)

NASA already has committed billions of dollars to procuring regularly scheduled rides to and from the International Space Station from commercial space taxi operators — but now it says it’s interested in buying short-term trips as well.

The proposed arrangement, detailed on Nov. 26, is aimed at giving a boost to the commercialization of space operations in low Earth orbit, as well as to NASA’s drive to send astronauts to the moon by 2024. It also makes the line dividing government-funded and privately funded space efforts even fuzzier.

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Starliner space taxi meets up with its rocket

Starliner at launch complex
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi is transported out to United Launch Alliance’s vertical integration facility in Florida, where an Atlas 5 rocket is waiting. (ULA Photo)

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi was moved to its Florida launch complex and set atop its United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket today in preparation for next month’s uncrewed test mission to the International Space Station.

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Report sharpens debate over spaceship costs

SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner
An artist’s conception shows Boeing’s Starliner capsule and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon craft. (NASA Graphic)

Boeing is in line to get paid substantially more per seat than SpaceX for astronaut trips to the International Space Station, in part because it negotiated an increase in what was meant to be a fixed-cost contract, NASA’s Office of the Inspector General says in a watchdog report.

The 53-page report, issued Nov. 14, estimates the per-seat cost for flights on Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner capsule at $90 million, which would be more than the $84 million or so that NASA has been paying the Russians for rides on their Soyuz spacecraft. In contrast, the price for a seat on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule was estimated at $55 million.

In response, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted that “this doesn’t seem right.” He said it was “not fair that Boeing gets so much more for the same thing.”

Boeing, meanwhile, took issue with the way the figures were calculated. And while the officials in charge of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program generally accepted the report’s findings, they said Boeing’s increased payout was fairly negotiated.

The inspector general’s report fueled criticism over cost overruns and scheduling delays in the development of commercial space taxis for transporting astronauts to and from the space station. NASA has had to rely on the Russians for such rides since the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in 2011.

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SpaceX Dragon fires up launch abort thrusters

SpaceX static-fire test
Thrusters blaze during a static-fire test of the launch abort system on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. (SpaceX via Twitter)

SpaceX went the distance today with a static-fire test of its Crew Dragon space taxi’s launch escape system — the same type of test that ended in a costly explosion when it was conducted in April.

A photo released after the firing shows the Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco thrusters blazing away on the test stand at SpaceX’s Florida facility. The full-duration firing brings the company one step closer to flying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station next year.

“SpaceX and NASA teams are now reviewing test data and working toward an in-flight demonstration of Crew Dragon’s launch escape system,” SpaceX tweeted.

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Bill aims to keep space station going until 2030

Starliner and space station
An artist’s conception shows a Boeing Starliner space taxi approaching the International Space Station. (Boeing Illustration)

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., has joined with three other U.S. senators in introducing a NASA authorization bill that aims to extend federal support for International Space Station to 2030.

The bill voices support for NASA’s Artemis campaign to explore the moon in preparation for missions to Mars. But it doesn’t mention NASA’s 2024 deadline for the astronauts’ first landing. Instead, the legislation urges NASA to “collaborate with commercial and international partners to establish lunar exploration by 2028” — which had been NASA’s plan until April.

It also backs NASA’s plans for a space-based infrared survey telescope designed to scan the skies for potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, and sets a 2025 launch deadline for that project.

Cantwell is a co-sponsor of the bipartisan bill in part because she’s the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which plays a lead role in NASA-related matters.

The other co-sponsors are Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the Commerce Committee’s chair; Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who chairs the Senate aviation and space subcommittee; and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., that subcommittee’s ranking Democratic member.

The upshot of the bill is that the senators are in favor of what NASA is aiming to do, but not necessarily on the same timetable.

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Starliner parachute glitch traced to unsecured pin

Starliner pad abort test
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi descends on the end of two parachutes during this week’s pad abort test. The Starliner’s heat shield can be seen falling away beneath the craft. (Boeing Photo)

For want of a pin, the use of a spaceship’s parachute was lost.

That may be a simplistic way to explain why one of the three parachutes on Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi failed to open. It does, however, serve as a cautionary tale about the one obvious glitch in the Nov. 4 pad abort test of the Starliner, a craft that’s due to start transporting NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station next year.

Overall, the test was judged a success: The uncrewed Starliner fired the rocket engines on its launch abort system, slowed its descent with the aid of the two parachutes that did open, and deployed its airbags to make a perfectly acceptable landing at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

If there had been crew aboard, and if an emergency involving the Starliner’s Atlas 5 rocket were to come up on the Florida launch pad, the astronauts would have made a safe escape and landing — as a splashdown in the Atlantic rather than a touchdown in the desert.

“This was a robust test of what the vehicle could do if we had an issue on the pad. A huge test,” Kathy Lueders, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said today during a teleconference reviewing the pad abort test.

The glitch involving the third parachute wasn’t serious enough to force a delay for the Starliner’s first uncrewed test flight to the space station and back, set for launch no earlier than Dec. 17. Nevertheless, it was important for Boeing’s engineers to determine the root cause and take steps to avoid having the anomaly happen again.

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