The Boeing Starliner as it approaches the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV
Boeing's crew-transport space capsule, The Starlinerreturned to Earth Without its two-person crew just after midnight Eastern Time on Sept. 7, 2024. Their remotely piloted return marked the end of a tense test flight to the International Space Station that left two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, on the station for months longer than planned after thruster failures led NASA to deem the capsule unsafe to pilot back.
Wilmore and Williams will remain on the International Space Station until February 2025, when they will return to Earth. in a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
The Conversation US asked the former commander of the International Space Station Michael Fossum on NASA's decision to return the ship uncrewed, the future of the Starliner program and the extended stay of its crew on the space station.
What does this decision mean for NASA?
NASA obtained contracts In 2014, Boeing and SpaceX signed a deal to provide crew transportation vehicles to the International Space Station through the Commercial Crew Program. At the start of the program, most bets were on Boeing taking the lead, given its extensive aerospace experience.
However, SpaceX moved very quickly with its new rocket, The Falcon 9and his cargo ship, dragonWhile they suffered some initial failures during testing, they aggressively built, tested, and learned from each one. In 2020, SpaceX successfully launched its first test crew to the International Space Station.
Meanwhile, Boeing had to deal with some setbacks in development. The result of this first test flight is a big disappointment for Boeing and NASA. But NASA management has expressed its support for Boeing and many experts, including me, believe that It's still in the agency's best interests. have more than one U.S. crew launch system to support continued human space operations.
NASA also continues with its Exchange partnership with RussiaThis partnership provides the agency with multiple ways to transport crew members to and from the space station.
As operations continue on the space station, NASA and its partners have enough options to transport people to and from the station that they will always have essential crew on the station, even if there are disruptions to the launch of any of the capable crew vehicles. Having Starliner as an option will help with that redundancy.
What does this decision mean for Boeing?
I think Boeing's reputation will ultimately suffer. The company is up against SpaceX. Now, the SpaceX Dragon manned spacecraft He has several flights under his belt.It has proven to be a reliable way to get to and from the space station.
It's important to remember that this was a test flight for Starliner. Of course, program managers want every test flight to go perfectly, but not every potential problem can be anticipated through ground testing. As expected, some issues did arise, which is to be expected on a test flight.
The space environment is unforgiving. A small problem can turn into a catastrophe in zero gravity. It is difficult to replicate these situations on Earth.
The technology that SpaceX and Boeing use is also radically different of the type of capsule technology used in the early days of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.
NASA has evolved and taken strategic steps to advance its mission over the past two decades. The agency has leveraged its legacy of thinking outside the box. It was an innovative move to break with tradition and leverage commercial competitors to advance the program. NASA gave companies a set of requirements and left it up to them to decide how to meet them.
What does this decision mean for the Starliner crew?
HE Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams They are rock-solid professionals and I believe their first thoughts are about completing their mission safely. They are both very experienced astronauts with prior experience on long-duration space stations. I am sure they are taking it in stride.
Before joining NASA, Williams was a naval aviator and Wilmore a combat veteran, so these two know how to face risk and accomplish their missions. This type of unfavorable outcome is always a possibility on a test mission. I'm sure they're moving forward with a positive attitude and Using your extra time in space to advance science, technology and space exploration.
Their families bear the brunt of the burden. They were prepared to welcome the crew in less than two weeks and now they must adjust to being unexpectedly separated for eight months.
Right now, NASA is dealing with a domino effect, with more astronauts than expected on the space station. More people means more consumables, such as food and clothing, are needed. The space station has sustained a large crew for short periods in the past, but with nine crew members on board today, the systems have to work harder to purify recycled drinking water, Generate oxygen and eliminate carbon dioxide. of its atmosphere.
Wilmore and Williams are also consuming food, and they did not bring the clothing and other personal supplies they needed for an eight-month stay, so NASA has already begun increasing those deliveries by cargo ship.
What does this decision mean for the future?
Human spaceflight is extremely difficult and unforgiving. For a mission to be successful, a million things must happen. It is impossible to fully understand how systems will perform in a microgravity environment until they are tested in space.
NASA has had numerous failures and near-failures. in the quest to get Americans to the Moon. They lost the The Apollo 1 crew in the middle of a fire During a pre-flight test. Launched the first space shuttle in 1981, and faced problems throughout the 30-year life of that program, including terrible losses of Challenger and Columbia.
After having no other options in the United States for more than 30 years, there are now three different manned spacecraft programs underway. In addition to the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner, NASA's Orion space probe For the Artemis II MissionIt is planned Four astronauts fly around the Moon in the coming years.
These programs have had setbacks and obstacles along the way (and there will be more), but I haven't been this excited about human spaceflight since I was 11 years old, cheering on Apollo and dreaming of leaving the first human footprints on Mars.
Michael E. FossumVice President, Texas A&M University
Michael E. Fossum is a retired NASA astronaut. The people who work at NASA are all his friends and colleagues.
This article is republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the Original article.
