Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is set to mark a significant achievement this month: transporting two NASA astronauts on a round trip to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Starliner has already accomplished half of that goal. Veteran astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore arrived at the ISS aboard the Starliner on June 6. Initially, NASA planned for their stay to last about a week.
Starliner spacecraft has yet to return to Earth. (Photo: NASA).
However, the issues encountered by the vehicle during its journey, including helium leaks and a sudden engine failure, have raised questions about how the latter part of the mission will unfold.
On June 18, NASA announced that Williams and Wilmore would not return to Earth before June 26, allowing engineers time to understand the spacecraft’s issues while it remains safely docked at the space station.
Boeing and NASA engineers decided to keep the Starliner with Williams and Wilmore at the station longer than planned, primarily for additional analysis.
The helium leak and engine failure occurred in a part of the spacecraft that was not anticipated, leading mission teams to delay the spacecraft’s return to Earth to investigate what happened.
A spacecraft returning to Earth can face lurking dangers at any moment. This is perhaps the most perilous phase of any space mission.
The journey will require the Starliner to touch the dense atmosphere of Earth while moving at speeds over 22 times the speed of sound. This process will heat the exterior of the spacecraft to approximately 1,649 degrees Celsius.
If this Starliner test mission encounters further obstacles, Boeing may have to rely on its competitor SpaceX to bring Williams and Wilmore home. Michael Lembeck, a practicing aerospace engineering professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, stated: “It would be unfortunate for the SpaceX Crew Dragon crew to have to rescue the astronauts. The spacecraft could be sent up with two crew members and return with four.”
Earlier in 2019, the first Starliner test mission faced numerous shortcomings. The vehicle did not operate correctly in orbit, with signs of software issues including a coding error that caused the internal clock to turn off 11 hours.
In 2022, Boeing’s second uncrewed test flight uncovered additional software problems and malfunctions with some of the vehicle’s thrusters.
Steve Stich, director of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, indicated in a press conference on June 6 that engineers may not have fully resolved these issues since 2022.
