Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft has had a tough few years, but this afternoon it successfully docked with the International Space Station, its first successful mission in orbit. Despite a few hiccups, this launch went more or less as planned, and if the craft can return to Earth safely, that will make it a huge accomplishment for the beleaguered aerospace company.
Without recapping all of the Starliner’s problems, suffice it to say that delays upon delays have led some to wonder if this capsule will ever make it to orbit, let alone regular trips with the crew on board.
But naysayers may have to shut up, at least for a week or two, after the Starliner’s successful launch and orbital insertion yesterday, and what seemed like standard docking procedure this afternoon. Check out this great shot of the capsule during its “inbound flyby”:
This does not mean that there was no problem. Two Orbital Maneuvering and Attitude Control (OMAC) thrusters, which are exactly as important as they sound, had to be shut down during the insert burn due to a “chamber pressure drop”. There is also a “non-nominal behavior of a thermal cooling loop”.
Naturally, there are redundancies and tolerances in place for this sort of thing, and the Starliner has continued on its merry way. But a multiple thruster failure isn’t something you can ignore because “space is tough.” It wasn’t the first time the craft had been in space, nor the first time it had thrust problems.
You better believe that NASA, which generously paid Boeing to develop this equipment, is going to examine this event through an electron microscope before committing another penny to the program.
Nevertheless, the spacecraft has completed its official orbital mission – a first for the Starliner – and an enormous amount of things have to go right for that to happen. It’s definitely a win for Boeing, and they really needed it.
Plus, they got this really awesome sight, which looks fake but is real:
Picture credits: Nasa
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