June 29, in Washington DC:
No specific return to Earth has been announced for the first crewed test voyage of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which is expected to take only a few days. The US space agency is contemplating increasing Starliner's mission duration from 45 days to 90 days, according to Steve Stich, who manages NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
After the Starliner experienced helium leaks and thruster failures on its way to the International Space Station in early June, officials have consistently signaled that it will be safe to return astronauts, including Sunita 'Suni' Williams of Indian heritage and Butch Wilmore, to Earth. There is currently no set return date, but Stich stated on Friday that NASA is thinking about increasing the maximum duration of Starliner's mission from 45 days to 90 days, as reported by CNN.
The NASA official remarked at a briefing on Friday, "We're just looking at the timeline to execute (the test in New Mexico) and then review the data." He said, "And that's what's really the long pole, I would say, determining a landing date." According to Stich, "We're not in a rush to come home." Part of the reason for that anticipated extension is the fact that Boeing and NASA intend to perform ground experiments in New Mexico to figure out why the Starliner's thrusters unexpectedly failed on the first leg of its trip.
Both Stich and Mark Nappi, who is both the VP and program manager of Boeing's Commercial Crew Program, have stated that engineers are still unsure as to what is causing the Starliner's issues.
A goal of performing ground tests while the vehicle is still in space, according to Nappi, is to try to narrow down the reasons why the thrusters failed.
Nappi pointed out, "So, if (the test in New Mexico) comes back and gives us all the answers, then we can just undock and come home." "And if it returns and says, 'Here's 80% of the answer,'" he put it again. Furthermore, we would like the Starliner to remain in orbit so that we can conduct one more docked hot fire test and obtain all of the answers. At the same time, Williams and Wilmore are now part of the regular crew on the International Space Station and are carrying out their duties as expected.
Aside from the thruster problems, the spacecraft encountered multiple further helium leaks on its way to the International Space Station. According to CNN, there were multiple problems with the Starliner's service module, a cylindrical attachment located at the spacecraft's base that supplies a significant amount of electricity while in flight. Going back to Earth will kill the service module because that's how it was designed. Boeing and NASA teams decided to keep the Starliner spacecraft docked with the space station while they attempted to gather as much information as possible regarding the module's ejected and destroyed state as the ship reentered the atmosphere.
Whether or whether NASA will raise the maximum mission duration to 90 days is still up in the air. According to Stich, in order to accomplish that, officials need to clear the Starliner's battery life. He did mention that the batteries are getting a recharge at the space station, but otherwise, they ought to function similarly after 90 days as they did during the initial 45 days. Cost overruns, delays, and missed deadlines are commonplace in the spaceflight industry. In contrast to SpaceX's Crew Dragon, Boeing's Starliner program has encountered notable obstacles, according to CNN.
In 2020, Crew Dragon successfully completed its maiden test flight and has since been conducting routine trips as part of the NASA Commercial Crew Program, which is responsible for astronaut transportation. While Boeing developed Starliner from the ground up, SpaceX was unable to build their Crew Dragon spacecraft on top of its Cargo Dragon aircraft, which had supplied the International Space Station for many years prior to its successor going live.
According to Nappi, "We've got a really good test flight that's been accomplished so far, and it's being viewed rather negatively." Friday saw the crew of Expedition 71 pack a US cargo craft, clean up the International Space Station, study tactics of futuristic flying, and conduct eye checks, according to the latest information of the continuing space expedition.
Astronauts from the Boeing Crew Flight Test program spent the day rearranging a facility for studying plants in space. According to NASA's live blog, "Robotics controllers are scheduled to detach the Cygnus space freighter from the Unity module on July 12 and release it into Earth orbit for disposal over the South Pacific Ocean ending a five-and-a-half-month mission at the orbital lab."
Co-pilots Jeanette Epps and Tracy C. Dyson helped NASA flight engineer Matthew Dominick load trash and dispose of stuff inside the Cygnus on Friday. With over 8,200 pounds of scientific experiments and crew supplies, the Cygnus was caught on February 1 by the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
On Earth, an optometrist's clinic would include the normal medical imaging equipment, which Epps used as she stared into Dyson's eyes. To aid flight doctors in understanding and mitigating the effects of microgravity on crew eyesight, she studied Dyson's cornea, retina, and lens. Dyson had already gathered and stored all of the extra hardware for the space station. Flight Engineer Mike Barratt of NASA spent the day rerouting cables and resetting communications systems within the Columbus lab module. In the bathroom of the Tranquility module, he stashed the tools and parts that had been utilized earlier in the week for sophisticated orbital plumbing. In the two shelves of the Human Research Facility in Columbus, Mike Barratt replenished supply kits with needles, tubes, and other biomedical equipment.
Stillch Wilmore, pilot of the Starliner, and Sunita Williams, commander of the ship, performed space botanical work on Kibo on Friday. After taking out the Plant Habitat growth chamber from Kibo's EXPRESS rack, they swapped out the carbon dioxide sensors and camera and put the research apparatus back together. To return to Earth from the orbital lab, NASA and Boeing will continue to analyze the performance of the Starliner's propulsion system, according to the liveblog. Today, executives from both NASA and Boeing met via media teleconference to go over the Starliner and the station's operations.
When will NASA's next spacewalk outside the space station take place? They're shooting for the end of July. The water leak in the service and cooling umbilical unit that ended a spacewalk on Monday, June 24, was further explained by this adjustment. Teams on the ground may now continue troubleshooting and understanding the issue.
As a flight engineer, Nikolai Chub led two sessions of a study into lunar material creation while training future crew members to operate planetary spacecraft and robotics.Station Commander Oleg Kononenko replaced thermal components in Roscosmos' life support hardware while Flight Engineer Alexander Grebenkin spent the day inventorying medical kits and cleaning fans inside the Rassvet module.
