Quiet is good, I think. They have the time, so they are doing the best analysis they can.
There's a saying in the defense industry when it comes to investigations like this: "No news is, no news." NASA/Boeing made a good call to stop pushing the departure date by a day or two and just say that it's going to be later than July 2nd. As you mention, there's no reason for urgency for their return (other than the 45 day limit on the vehicle), and plenty of reasons to do the best job they can of analyzing the data.QuoteI still hope the Starliner can be approved for the return and I suspect (without any inside info) that this will happen.
Ditto. The rank and file at Boeing need some good news.
Ditto. The rank and file at Boeing need some good news.
It doesn't count as good news until they actually do return - safely. Being cleared to land an airliner isn't the good news, wheel-stop is.
Nobody is stuck, stranded or whatsoever.
Presumably (imo) NASA made (with each and every flight) a risk assessment after docking and came to the result that the risk for LOC for example is not the specified 1:270 but perhaps 1:262. So that would be sub-spec. As they are indeed in no need to hurry, they can analyze all data and can perform some tests on Earth with subsystems in order to get the statistical / mathematical value up to 270.
And as it is a "new" vehicle you also want to learn as much as you can, including behaviour over time.
Nobody is stuck, stranded or whatsoever.
Presumably (imo) NASA made (with each and every flight) a risk assessment after docking and came to the result that the risk for LOC for example is not the specified 1:270 but perhaps 1:262. So that would be sub-spec. As they are indeed in no need to hurry, they can analyze all data and can perform some tests on Earth with subsystems in order to get the statistical / mathematical value up to 270.
And as it is a "new" vehicle you also want to learn as much as you can, including behaviour over time.We have no reason (that I know of) to believe pLOC is currently assessed at 1/270. It could be better than that. We do not even know what the Starliner team methodology is to make this assessment or how they will use the result of the assessment. All we really know is that there are anomalies and that they are being assessed.
No news is good news but the silence is starting to speak for itself.
No news is good news but the silence is starting to speak for itself.
Don't interpret silence too much; like I said above, many times no news is just "no news". Now, no news after July 4th, then I think we can start asking "hey, what's going on?"
Nobody is stuck, stranded or whatsoever.
Presumably (imo) NASA made (with each and every flight) a risk assessment after docking and came to the result that the risk for LOC for example is not the specified 1:270 but perhaps 1:262. So that would be sub-spec. As they are indeed in no need to hurry, they can analyze all data and can perform some tests on Earth with subsystems in order to get the statistical / mathematical value up to 270.
And as it is a "new" vehicle you also want to learn as much as you can, including behaviour over time.
...
How many of the helium leaks are stopped as of now due to the RCS manifold being isolated in shutdown mode as the vehicle is docked with ISS and how many are ongoing?
...
- Some ISS EVA water will be transferred to Starliner for its sublimator. It was not stated if this is due to the longer than originally planned flight duration or something else.
Shortly after 9 p.m. EDT, @NASA instructed crews aboard the space station to shelter in their respective spacecraft as a standard precautionary measure after it was informed of a satellite break-up at an altitude near the station’s earlier Wednesday. Mission Control continued to monitor the path of the debris, and after about an hour, the crew was cleared to exit their spacecraft and the station resumed normal operations.
My understanding is that NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore sheltered in Starliner as the debris passed and would have flown home in it if they had to. Not surprising since NASA has said that Starliner could serve as a lifeboat in the event of an emergency.
NASA, Boeing to Provide Commercial Crew, Space Station Update
Abbey A. Donaldson
JUN 27, 2024
MEDIA ADVISORY
M24-088
Leadership from NASA’s International Space Station and Commercial Crew Programs, as well as Boeing, will participate in a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Friday, June 28.
NASA and Boeing continue to evaluate Starliner’s propulsion system performance before returning from the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Crew Flight Test. The agency also will discuss recent station operations.
Audio of the call will stream live on the agency’s website:
https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
Participants include:
Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate
Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program
Bill Spetch, operations integration manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program
Emily Nelson, chief flight director, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager, Commercial Crew Program, Boeing
Media interested in participating must contact the newsroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston no later than one hour prior to the start of the call at 281-483-5111 or [email protected]. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.
As part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams lifted off at 10:52 a.m., June 5, on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on an end-to-end test of the Starliner system. The crew docked to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at 1:34 p.m., June 6.
In its 24th year of continuously crewed operations, the space station is a unique scientific platform where crew members conduct experiments across multiple disciplines of research, including Earth and space science, biology, human physiology, physical sciences, and technology demonstrations not possible on Earth. Crews living aboard station are the hands of thousands of researchers on the ground, having conducted more than 3,300 experiments in microgravity. Station is the cornerstone of space commerce, from commercial crew and cargo partnerships to commercial research and national lab research, and lessons learned aboard the International Space Station are helping to pass the torch to future commercial stations.
For more information about the International Space Station, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
-end-
Starliner works “exceptionally well” as Safe Haven in real-life scenario
June 27, 2024
Week in Review: Starliner crew wraps up third week in space
Wednesday started as any other morning on-orbit for Starliner’s maiden crew, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Their exercise routine was followed by organizing cargo inside the Permanent Multipurpose Module. But the nominal day quickly changed when a satellite broke apart at an altitude near the International Space Station.
Shortly after 9 p.m. EDT, NASA instructed all astronauts to seek shelter in their respective spacecraft. Wilmore and Williams activated their Safe Haven procedures, sheltered inside Starliner, and began preparations for a possible undocking from station if it became necessary. They closed the hatch before the closest debris approach, which passed without issue.
“Starliner’s Safe Haven worked exceptionally well and as envisioned for this case,” said Ed Van Cise, the Starliner flight director who coordinated the sheltering actions with Wilmore and Williams.
Mission Control monitored the path of debris and after about an hour the crew was cleared to exit their spacecraft and resume station operations – which in this case was sleep. Starliner was out of docked quiescent mode for about three hours.
Wilmore and Williams performed two prior Safe Haven exercises inside Starliner, as part of the CFT test objectives. However, the additional metrics gathered Wednesday evening will benefit Starliner’s certification process and sharpen the experience for future crews. Starliner remains available for return in case of an emergency on the space station that would require the crew to leave orbit immediately and come back to Earth.
The opportunity to learn more about how Starliner performs in space is also giving Wilmore and Williams the additional time they had hoped for in zero gravity.
Earlier in the week, Wilmore cheered on the University of Tennessee’s baseball team, who played for and won the national championship, from the space station cupola. Wilmore is a Tennessee native and achieved a Master of Science in Aviation Systems from UT.
The ISS crew also helped prepare astronauts Tracy Dyson and Mike Barratt for a spacewalk. Their time outside station ended early due to a water leak in the service and cooling umbilical unit on Dyson’s spacesuit. The crew members were not in any danger as result of the leak.
Tuesday, all nine astronauts worked on advanced microgravity research, checked spacesuits, and performed maintenance on the orbiting laboratory. Wilmore and Williams spent the evening inside the Harmony module maintaining plumbing gear. They replaced the pressure control and pump assembly motor that supports the space station’s main restroom.
Next week, the Starliner crew will work with flight controllers to power up the spacecraft and load software files, charge batteries on a camera and their tablets, and perform other housekeeping activities. In addition to their valuable contributions to the space station, Wilmore and Williams are also helping ground teams collect critical data for longer-duration Starliner missions.
For more Starliner highlights, follow @BoeingSpace on X, starlinerupdates.com and the CFT mission website.