Teams Working 3 Helium Leaks On Starliner 1 Leak Detected Prior To Launch; 2 New Leaks Since Arrival in LEO Next Burn Scheduled For Approx 8 Hour Before Docking
Zitat International Space Station@Space_Station The @BoeingSpace #Starliner remains on track for a docking at 12:15pm ET today to the station despite helium leaks reported on the spacecraft. @NASA and Boeing will meet to review data prior to rendezvous and docking operations on the orbital outpost. 10:12 AM · Jun 6, 2024
Zitat Spaceflight Now@SpaceflightNow Adding some additional context on the helium leaks onboard Starliner: teams are monitoring two new leaks beyond the original leak detected prior to liftoff. One is in the port 2 manifold, one in the port 1 manifold and the other in the top manifold.
The port 2 manifold leak, connected to one of the Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters, is the one engineers were tracking pre-launch.
The spacecraft is in a stable configuration and teams are pressing forward with the plan to rendezvous and dock with the ISS on June 6 at about 12:15 pm EDT (1615 UTC). Boeing engineer Brandon Burroughs explains more about the solution in work overnight and what comes next. Last edited 3:05 AM · Jun 6, 2024
Zitat The spacecraft's service module houses most of Starliner's propulsion system, including 20 larger orbital maneuvering engines and 28 less powerful reaction control system thrusters for fine pointing and smaller adjustments. Starliner has four doghouse-shaped propulsion pods around the circumference of the service module, with lines for hydrazine fuel, nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer, and helium pressurant routed into each thruster pack.
Two helium manifolds feed each doghouse. The leak discovered prior to Starliner's launch was traced to a flange in one manifold in the port, or left-side, doghouse pod. Late Wednesday, engineers detected two more helium leaks—one with the other manifold in the port doghouse, and another in the doghouse on the top side of the service module.
“It looks like we picked up a couple more helium leaks," said Neal Negata, an engineer servicing as spacecraft communciator, or CAPCOM, in mission control. “We’re ready to copy find out exactly what you mean by picked up another helium leak, so give it to us," Wilmore radioed to the ground a few moments later.
Negata told Wilmore they will isolate the manifolds newly discovered to be leaking helium, while the manifold known to be leaking before launch will remain open. "That will give the teams the ability to manage the spacecraft," Burroughs said.
Before getting comfortable with launching with the known helium leak, engineers determined the Starliner spacecraft could handle up to four more helium leaks, even if the existing leak worsened, according to Steve Stich, NASA's commercial crew program manager.
“It’s a tough system," Stich told reporters last month. "This is a high-pressure system, and helium is a very small, tiny molecule, and it tends to leak.”
In its current configuration with two helium manifolds closed, six of the spacecraft's 28 reaction control system thrusters will be disabled. The capsule has the ability to operate on a subset of its thrusters, and Burroughs said Boeing engineers believe "the helium system remains safe for flight."
"This was not unexpected, and we plan for cases like this," he said. "The team will be working to make sure we're in a good configuration to complete our mission, which is docking and rendezvous with the ISS."
Nachrichtenagentur Xinhua, Beijing, 6. Juni. Am 6. Juni um 14:48 hat das Aufstiegsmodul von Chang'e 6 erfolgreich an den Orbiter und das Rückkehrmodul angedockt. Der Behälter mit Bodenproben des Mondbodens wurde um 15:54 in das Rückkehrmodul umgeladen.
Die Rückkehrstufe wird zwei weitere Wochen in der Mondumlaufbahn verbringen, ehe die Zündung für den Rückflug zur Erde erfolgt.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Zitat SpaceX@SpaceX Liftoff of Starship! 2:51 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Starship’s Raptor engines have ignited during hot-staging separation. Super Heavy is executing the flip maneuver and boostback burn 2:54 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Hot stage jettison 2:55 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Super Heavy has splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico 3:00 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Mission accomplished. Videofeed + Telemetrie während der gesamten Wiedereintritts. Ich geb' mal die Telemetriedaten: T 00:45:00 Geschwindigkeit 26.700 km/h Höhe 106 km (Beginn der glühenden Luftreibung) 46:00 - 98 km 47:00 - 90 km 48:00 - 81 km 49:00 - 78 km 49:00 - 74 km - 26.000 km/h 50:00 - 70 km - 25.000 51:00 - 68 km - 24.500 52:00 - 68 km - 23.500 54:00 - 66 km - 21.700 55:00 - 63 km - 20.600 56:00 - 59 km - 19.100 57:00 - 57 km - 17.100 58:00 - 55 km - 15.200 59:00 - 51 km - 13.000 01:00:00 - 47 km - 10.300 01:01:00 - 44 km - 8.000 01:02:00 - 38 km - 6.000 01:03:00 - 27 km - 1.000 01:04:00 - 24 km - 700 km/h 01:04:30 - 8 km - 555 km/h 01:05:30 - 1 km - 370 km/h 01:06:11 Aufsetzen auf der Meeresoberfläche ohne Fahrt + geplantes Umkippen.
Bei 01:05:42 ist der Beginn der Bremszündung deutlich zu erkennen.
Zitat Scott Manley@DJSnM That looks like a successful soft landing. DAMN WHAT A LEGEND! 3:56 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Zitat Elon Musk@elonmusk Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean! Congratulations @SpaceX team on an epic achievement!! 4:08 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Zitat Spaceflight Now@SpaceflightNow Starliner has been given a go to hold at 260 meters from the space station. During the approach two reaction control system jets have failed off. A manual flight test has been put on hold while flight controllers look to restore those jets with a hot fire. 5:26 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Spaceflight Now@SpaceflightNow Four hot fire tests have been conducted on Starliner's failed thrusters. The crew reported hearing three of the four firings. Flight controllers are now reviewing data from the troublesome manuevering jets. 5:42 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Spaceflight Now@SpaceflightNow Starliner continues to station-keep about 260 metres from the space station. The hot fire testing has confirmed two of the four reaction control system jets are working properly and can be brought back into service. 5:45 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Spaceflight Now@SpaceflightNow Currently Starliner does not have permission to enter the so-called 'keep out sphere' around the space station while flight controllers continue to evaluate the troublesome manuevering thrusters. They will however close in by another 60 meters or so, under manual control, to a distance of about 200 meters 5:57 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Zitat June 6, 2024 at 4:21 PM STARLINER APPROACHES ISS Flying autonomously, Starliner is completing a series of burns to reach the ellipsoid of the International Space Station (ISS) for proximity operations. This boundary is a four kilometer by two kilometer by a two kilometer invisible sphere around the ISS, which acts as a safety buffer for all incoming and departing spacecraft.
Once the spacecraft has executed an approach corridor initiation burn, it will hold at around 850 feet (260 meters) away from the space station for manual piloting demo. Following, docking is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT), at the station's forward-facing node-2 docking port.
June 6, 2024 at 6:08 PM STARLINER DOCKING ON HOLD Starliner is currently station-keeping with the ISS at a distance of about 200 meters away. They do not currently have the 'go' to enter the space station's 'keep-out sphere' and proceed with the docking process, as they troubleshoot an issue with the spacecraft's reaction control system thrusters on the service module, which experienced an anomaly during the manual fly-around maneuver.
Zitat Spaceflight Now@SpaceflightNow Flight control teams continue to analyze data on the Starliner's reaction control system (RCS) thrusters. In the meantime, Butch and Suni are slightly retreating further away from the ISS and are shifting out of manual control and back into an automated mode. Then, additional hot fire tests of three RCS thrusters are in work (B1A3, T2A2 and S1A1). Butch and Suni will take the stick again amid these tests. Flight control teams are now opting for the next docking window, which runs from 12:33-1:19 p.m. CT (1:33-2:19 pm ET, 1733-1819 UTC). 6:33 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Spaceflight Now@SpaceflightNow NASA's Gary Jordan says teams have now polled 'go' from the ISS team for Starliner to proceed inside the keep out sphere. Starliner teams are still reviewing data. The spacecraft is now re-approaching that keep out sphere. The window for the second docking attempt runs from 1:33-2:19 p.m. EDT (1733-1819 UTC). Butch and Suni are manually piloting Starliner about 212 meters away from the ISS and will soon switch to an auto hold. Last edited 6:43 PM · Jun 6, 2024
18:57: Starliner has entered the "keep out" sphere.
Zitat Spaceflight Now@SpaceflightNow Starliner is now within the keep out sphere around the space station and is moving at a pace of about 23 cm per second. Teams are continuing a slow approach until they reach the planned hold at 10 meters out. 6:52 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Spaceflight Now@SpaceflightNow Starliner is now fewer than 80 meters away from the ISS and has slowed to an approach rate of about 10 cm per second. NASA commentators say at different points, they had 5 reaction control system (RCS) thrusters go offline. Through several hotfire tests, they were able to bring back 4 of them and get the approval to enter the keep out sphere and head towards docking at the ISS. 6:59 PM · Jun 6, 2024
@SpaceflightNow Starliner is at the 10 meter mark from ISS and holding until lighting conditions improve. 7:19 PM · Jun 6, 2024
19:34 Soft capture.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Zitat SpaceX@SpaceX Starship’s fourth flight test launched with ambitious goals, attempting to go farther than any previous test before and begin demonstrating capabilities central to return and reuse of Starship and Super Heavy. The payload for this test was the data. Starship delivered → 8:50 PM · Jun 6, 2024
IFT 1 (20.4.2023) => IFT 2 (18.11.23): 212 Tage IFT 2 => IFT 3 (14.3.24): 117 Tage IFT 3 => IFT (6.6.24): 84 Tage
IFT 1: Stufentrennung mißlungen IFT 2: Stufentrennung gelungen; Umlaufbahn nicht erreicht IFT 3: Umlaufbahn erreicht; Schiff manövrierunfähig aufgrund von Eisbildung in den Treibstoffleitungen, beim Wiedereintritt in 65 km Höhe zerstört IFT 4: Umlaufbahn erreicht; Booster und Schiff erfolgreich sanft gelandet.
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Zitat Eric Berger@SciGuySpace Some notes from the post-docking news conference on Starliner: Engineers found a fourth helium leak after capture. The thruster issues were similar to those observed on OFT-2, and are still not fully understood. 11:19 PM · Jun 6, 2024
Tim Dodds (der "Everyday Astronaut") gestern im Gespräch mit Elon Musk auf der Starbase in Texas:
Zitat Everyday Astronaut@Erdayastronaut The night before #Starship's 4th flight, @elonmusk described one of the main concerns about Starship's heat shield. He turned out to be right as it was the exact spot that burned through. More video to come! 12:09 AM · Jun 7, 2024
Zitat The hinge gap - and sealing the hinge gap and not having hot gas just go flowing superfast through the flap hinges. 'Cause if you get hot gas flowing through, that'll cook anything. So you gotta block with a gas seal at the border of the flap hinge. So: and one of the peak questions is: does that seal work? We think it will work, but it may not work.There are now some questions like 'how well will the tiles stay on?' There's a fine line of challenge here where the tiles are ceramics, and they're very brittle, like a coffee cup, or a dental plate, stuck to a steel surface.
Zitat Elon Musk@elonmusk Not a difficult prediction! We will have this nailed for next flight.
Zitat Everyday Astronaut@Erdayastronaut The night before #Starship's 4th flight, @elonmusk described one of the main concerns about Starship's heat shield. He turned out to be right as it was the exact spot that burned through. More video to come!
Note, a newer version of Starship has the forward flaps shifted leeward. This will help improve reliability, ease of manufacturing and payload to orbit. 12:35 AM · Jun 7, 2024
Zitat SLS ☄️@ScottLikesSLS So.. Once the Hot Gas Seal on Ship 29 got breached the plasma got into the holes for the strut of the hinges melting the flap inside out. 3:46 PM · Jun 7, 2024
Zitat Walter Isaacson@WalterIsaacson·8m With the success of Starship, it’s important to realize how important and counter-intuitive it was for @elonmusk to overcome his team’s resistance and use stainless steel. 8:43 PM · Jun 7, 2024
Zitat Elon Musk@elonmusk If you want a detailed explanation of why I switched Starship from carbon fiber to stainless steel From ELON DOCS 6:39 AM · Jun 7, 2024
In Isaacsons EM-Bio der Abschnitt S. 327-29, "Stainless steel, again" im Kapitel 53 ("Starship") (Seitenzählung nach der geb. Ausg. von Simon & Schuster.)
PS.
Zitat Elon Musk@elonmusk Worth mentioning that switching to ultra hard, cold-rolled stainless steel for Starship is what led me to make Cybertruck out of it too 7:17 AM · Jun 7, 2024
"Les hommes seront toujours fous; et ceux qui croient les guérir sont les plus fous de la bande." - Voltaire
Laut meiner Liste stehen danach im Juni noch 26 Missionen der verschiedenen Unternehmen an .
Gruß Morn <>< ______________________________________ Es käme wohl einem biblischen Wunder gleich, brächte diese Regierung, angesichts ihrer Charaktere und deren Bildungsniveaus, etwas Funktionales oder auch nur annähernd Sinnvolles zu Stande.
Zitat von Morn im Beitrag #161Virgin Galactic versucht es auch wieder einmal.
Just for the record: das ist der zweite Flug des SpaceShip Two in diesem Jahr (der 1. fand am 26. Januar statt). Verglichen mit 6 2023 (25. Mai, 29. Juni, 10. August, 9. September, 6. Oktober und 2. November). Es ist der letzte Flug dieses Raumgleiters, der VSS Unity. Das Nachfolgemodell, Delta Class genannt, soll ab dem nächsten Jahr zum Einsatz kommen.
Zitat von Morn im Beitrag #161Virgin Galactic versucht es auch wieder einmal.
Just for the record: das ist der zweite Flug des SpaceShip Two in diesem Jahr (der 1. fand am 26. Januar statt). Verglichen mit 6 2023 (25. Mai, 29. Juni, 10. August, 9. September, 6. Oktober und 2. November).
Ja, der 17. und wohl letzte Flug der VSS Unity.
Gruß Morn <>< ______________________________________ Es käme wohl einem biblischen Wunder gleich, brächte diese Regierung, angesichts ihrer Charaktere und deren Bildungsniveaus, etwas Funktionales oder auch nur annähernd Sinnvolles zu Stande.
Zitat von Jun 07, 2024NASA Invites Media to Rollout Event for Artemis II Moon Rocket Stage
NASA will roll the fully assembled core stage for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will launch the first crewed Artemis mission out of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans in mid-July. The 212-foot-tall stage will be loaded on the agency’s Pegasus barge for delivery to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Media will have the opportunity to capture images and video, hear remarks from agency and industry leadership, and speak to subject matter experts with NASA and its Artemis industry partners as crews move the rocket stage to the Pegasus barge.
NASA will provide additional information on specific timing later, along with interview opportunities. This event is open to U.S. and international media. International media must apply by June 14. U.S. media must apply by July 3. The agency’s media credentialing policy is available online.
Zitat Elon Musk@elonmusk Booster landing was on target, ship landing was several km off due to flap damage, but both were soft landings 8:33 PM · Jun 8, 2024
Zitat The first astronaut mission of Boeing's Starliner capsule will last a bit longer than we'd thought.
"@NASA and @BoeingSpace teams set a return date of no earlier than Tuesday, June 18, for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. The additional time in orbit will allow the crew to perform a spacewalk on Thursday, June 13, while engineers complete #Starliner systems checkouts," NASA ISS officials said on Sunday (June 9) via X.
Starliner has also encountered issues during CFT, including small helium leaks and a few misbehaving thrusters. But these problems are minor, mission team members say, and they have been dealt with successfully so far.
If all goes well on CFT, Starliner will be certified to fly six-month astronaut missions to and from the ISS for NASA. SpaceX already does this with its Dragon capsule; Elon Musk's company is in the middle of its eighth long-duration crewed flight to the ISS, known as Crew-8.
Zitat Eric Berger@SciGuySpace If there is any hope at all for Artemis III to happen in 2026, Starship needs to fly this challenging mission in the next nine months. 6:13 PM · Jun 11, 2024
Zitat As NASA watches Starship closely, here’s what the agency wants to see next
In recent months, NASA officials like Koerner have been grappling with the reality that not all of this hardware is likely to be ready for the planned September 2026 launch date for the Artemis III mission. In particular, the agency is concerned about Starship's readiness as a "Human Landing System." While SpaceX is pressing forward rapidly with a test campaign, there is still a lot of work to be done to get the vehicle down to the lunar surface and safely back into lunar orbit.
For these reasons, as Ars previously reported, NASA and SpaceX are planning for the possibility of modifying the Artemis III mission. Instead of landing on the Moon, a crew would launch in the Orion spacecraft and rendezvous with Starship in low-Earth orbit. This would essentially be a repeat of the Apollo 9 mission, buying down risk and providing a meaningful stepping stone between Artemis missions.
Officially, NASA maintains that the agency will fly a crewed lunar landing, the Artemis III mission, in September 2026. But almost no one in the space community regards that launch date as more than aspirational. Some of my best sources have put the most likely range of dates for such a mission from 2028 to 2032. A modified Artemis III mission, in low-Earth orbit, would therefore bridge a gap between Artemis II and an eventual landing. ... That is a long way of saying that if SpaceX's Starship is not ready in 2026, NASA is actively considering alternative plans. (The most likely of these would be an Orion-Starship docking in low-Earth orbit.) NASA has not made any final plans and is waiting to see how Artemis II progresses and what happens with Starship and spacesuit development.
During her remarks, Koerner was also asked what SpaceX's next major milestone is and when it would need to be completed for NASA to remain on track for a lunar landing in 2026. "Their next big milestone test, from a contract perspective, is the cryogenic transfer test," she said. "That is going to be early next year."
his timeline is consistent with what NASA's Human Landing System program manager, Lisa Watson-Morgan recently told Ars. It provides a useful benchmark to evaluate Starship's progress in NASA's eyes. The "prop transfer demo" is a fairly complex mission that involves the launch of a "Starship target" from the Starbase facility in South Texas. Then a second vehicle, the "Starship chaser," will launch and meet the target in orbit and rendezvous. The chaser will then transfer a quantity of propellant to the target spaceship.
The test will entail a lot of technology, including docking mechanisms, navigation sensors, quick disconnects, and more. If SpaceX completes this test during the first quarter of 2025, NASA will at least theoretically have a path forward to a crewed lunar landing in 2026.
Zitat von June 14, 2024NASA, Boeing Target June 22 for Flight Crew Test Return
NASA and Boeing now are targeting no earlier than Saturday, June 22, to return the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission from the International Space Station. The extra time allows the team to finalize departure planning and operations while the spacecraft remains cleared for crew emergency return scenarios within the flight rules.
NASA and Boeing leadership will discuss the details of the new return target, flight status, and weather considerations for landing during a pre-departure media teleconference at 12 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 18. NASA will provide additional media teleconference details soon.
“We are continuing to understand the capabilities of Starliner to prepare for the long-term goal of having it perform a six-month docked mission at the space station,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “The crew will perform additional hatch operations to better understand its handling, repeat some ‘safe haven’ testing and assess piloting using the forward window.”
NASA and Boeing teams also prepared plans for Starliner to fire seven of its eight aft-facing thrusters while docked to the station to evaluate thruster performance for the remainder of the mission. Known as a “hot fire test,” the process will see two bursts of the thrusters, totaling about a second, as part of a pathfinder process to evaluate how the spacecraft will perform during future operational missions after being docked to the space station for six months.
Zitat Voyager 1 is back online! NASA's most distant spacecraft returns data from all 4 instruments
By Stefanie Waldek published 34 minutes ago
The spacecraft has resumed full science operations after a technical issue began creating complications in November 2023.
After the team relocated the code to a new location in the FDS, Voyager 1 finally sent back intelligible data on April 20, 2024 — but only from two of its four science instruments. Now, just two months later, Voyager 1's remaining two science instruments are back up and running, communicating effectively with mission control on Earth.
Der Kleine Pedant notiert, daß der Termin für das Abkoppeln, der schon vom 18. auf den 22. verlegt worden ist, jetzt für den 25. vorgesehen ist.
Zitat Spaceflight Now@SpaceflightNow Beginning at about 12p ET (1600 UTC), NASA and Boeing leaders will provide an update on the undocking and landing plans for the Starliner spacecraft. Listen along live: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4TXDedBlyBI Follow this thread for updates. 🧵1/n 5:55 PM · Jun 18, 2024
Zitat 2/ The update comes as teams on the ground continue preparations for capsule landing out at the White Sands Missile Range. 4/ Stich begins his remarks by noting that teams have been busy reviewing data since launch. He noted they completed the docked hot fire test of some of the aft thrusters over the weekend. 5/ He notes that the undocking date for Starliner shifted from June 22 to June 26 "to give our teams a little more time look at the data, do some analysis and make sure that we're ready to come home." He said undock on Tuesday, June 25, would happen at about 10:10 pm EDT, with landing on Wednesday, June 26 at about 4:51 am EDT at White Sands. 6/ Stich added that they have prime undocking/landing opportunities about every four days. That means, if they push beyond June 26, the next prime day would be July 2, which would also shift the landing site to Wilcox. 7/ Discussing the five reaction control system (RCS) thrusters that failed during flight, Stich said they performed a hot fire test over the weekend and coming out of that, they "feel very confident" in their performance. They did not fire one of the thrusters that acted up during rendezvous (the one that was left off). It will remain off during the return trip. 8/ Stich says, comparing the Starliner Crew Flight Test to the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test 2 in 2022, "the rendezvous was a little bit more demanding on the propulsion system. In other words, it fired its thrusters a bit more frequently." 9/ Moving to the helium leaks, Stich mentions the fifth leak, which was "the smallest of all that we've seen and very similar to what we saw on OFT-2." He described it as 11.5 standard cubic centimeters per minute. He said after the hot fire it was 5.6. They are doing some hardware simulations at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, to help better understand the leak. 10/ Stich now turns to the port manifold on the Starliner's service module, he notes there was an RCS oxidizer isolation valve (propellant valve on the oxidizer side) that wasn't properly closing. He said it was different from what they saw on OFT-2 and they now have a good idea for how to manage it. 11/ Weigel speaks from the ISS standpoint and says that they have appreciated having Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams as extra hands. She notes that EVA 90 shifted to June 24 and also, that Mike Barratt will replace Matt Dominick as spacewalk crew member 2 (does not elaborate on why). She said they scaled back from three spacewalks to two because they used about a full EVA's worth of oxygen leading up to the scrub on June 14. 12/ Weigel said they used the Canadarm to examine the thrusters of the Starliner's after thrusters prior to the hot fire test over the weekend. She said Butch and Suni also performed the so-called 'safe haven' protocol and had two Expedition 71 crew members come onboard to feel out the spacing on the spacecraf 13/ Nappi said they went into this mission to satisfy 87 flight test objectives, 77 of which have been completed. The rest will come during undocking and landing. He said during the first mission management team meeting on day one of the mission, and they encountered the two additional helium leaks, they focused on whether they were ready to dock or not, and they decided they were. Day two, after docking, they took a thorough look at the thrusters and determined if a 'safe haven' test was feasible. 14/ Nappi noted that they initially looked at an 8-day minimum mission docked to the station, but with the additional time, they looked at if they could add some additional objectives. He said originally, they were going to have the landing team staged near the landing site for the duration of the mission, but with the extension, they sent them home. They'll be sent back out about four days prior to landing. 15/ Nappi said they have good thruster performance and that the leaks "are stable and less than they previously measured." "The next step is to get focused on undock and returning." The team was given the weekend off to get refreshed and ready to focus since "the undocking and landing phase of the mission is pretty dynamic." 16/ Lammers says no later than June 24, they will bring the flight control team back in to power up the vehicle and load cargo. The spacecraft "will essentially be idling, waiting for undocking day." About three hours prior to departure, they'll close the hatch and do some leak checks. 17/ Weigel said the reason for the crew shift on the EVAs was due to the spacesuit discomfort issue during the pre-spacewalk process with Matt Dominick. She said they didn't want to take additional time to further address it, since it would've eaten into the time of the EVA. She says they already had another suit ready for Mike Barratt to move forward and so they are doing so, since they are only performing two spacewalks in this series. 18/ Weigel said if for whatever reason EVA 90 is delayed, they would push it beyond the Starliner undocking to prioritize that. 19/ Stich says, regarding how many thrusters are needed to be in working order on Starliner for undocking and return, he said they're looking at that carefully. 20/ Asked if they feel as though the helium leaks are connected to the issues with the RCS thrusters, Stich says they are different, but that dynamic operations on flight day one, for the insertion maneuver, phasing maneuver and the crew attitude maneuvers may contribute to the leaks. Nappi said answering that question is "the question that engineers are asking of themselves." He said that's what drove Saturday's hot fire test and the ongoing data review. 21/ Asked point blank on NASA's confidence in Starliner, Stich said that the vehicle is cleared for "any kind of contingency or in an emergency, we would be very confident in putting Butch and Suni in the vehicle and returning them if we need to." He adds though that they are still working through these issues and "want a little bit more time to understand what's happened with the data that we have and work through that." 22/ Asked if there's a scenario in which Starliner would not be safe to bring Butch and Suni home, Stich says "We're taking this one step at a time, looking through all the data and when we close these things out, we'll be ready to return Butch and Suni on Starliner." 23/ Stich says if they resolve and clear the last two items (helium leaks and thrusters), there may not be another briefing prior to undocking. 24/ Stich says they need about seven hours worth of helium for undocking and landing criteria and they currently have a total capability of 70 hours. Regarding the thruster that was acting up, during the day of docking (June 6), it showed only 11% thrust and the second time, essentially no thrust, which is why they took it out of use. 25/ Nappi said the three larger helium leaks, are likely similar in nature and the smaller two may be, but it's difficult to say. He said Boeing will conduct a fault tree and go through all the probable causes. 26/ Nappi said the problems would be more characterized as "learning and additional fine tuning" on the vehicle. He said they don't anticipate needing to fly a third Orbital Flight Test without crew before the long-duration Starliner-1 mission with four astronauts. 27/ Stich says these additional issues that they're working through could shift the certification dates for Starliner before the full crew rotation mission (Starliner-1), but that is still TBD until the conclusion of this flight. 28/ Lammers said the reason they needed to repeat the safe haven protocol test was because there was a "minor" glitch when they connected the batteries to the electrical bus. 29/29 Stich said they will work with Boeing to provide a comprehensive overview of how many thrusters are needed to be in working order for each phase of undocking and returning for a landing. That will wrap up today's briefing.
PS.
Zitat Jeff Foust@jeff_foust NASA closes the briefing on Starliner by directing people to http://blogs.nasa.gov for updates on the CFT mission. As of the end of the briefing, the last update was posted four days ago. https://blogs.nasa.gov/boeing-crew-flight-test/ 7:29 PM · Jun 18, 2024
Zitat NASA announces they are moving Hubble into single-gyro mode to extend its life after one of three remaining gyros has suffered continuing problems.
Zitat NASA Releases Hubble Image Taken in New Pointing Mode
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has taken its first new images since changing to an alternate operating mode that uses one gyro.
The spacecraft returned to science operations June 14 after being offline for several weeks due to an issue with one of its gyroscopes (gyros), which help control and orient the telescope.
This new image features NGC 1546, a nearby galaxy in the constellation Dorado. The galaxy’s orientation gives us a good view of dust lanes from slightly above and backlit by the galaxy’s core. This dust absorbs light from the core, reddening it and making the dust appear rusty-brown. The core itself glows brightly in a yellowish light indicating an older population of stars. Brilliant-blue regions of active star formation sparkle through the dust. Several background galaxies also are visible, including an edge-on spiral just to the left of NGC 1546.
Zitat NASA indefinitely delays return of Starliner to review propulsion data - “We are letting the data drive our decision."
Eric Berger - 6/22/2024, 3:27 AM
In an update released late Friday evening, NASA said it was "adjusting" the date of the Starliner spacecraft's return to Earth from June 26 to an unspecified time in July.
The announcement followed two days of long meetings to review the readiness of the spacecraft, developed by Boeing, to fly NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to Earth. According to sources these meetings included high-level participation from senior leaders at the agency, including associate administrator Jim Free.
This "Crew Flight Test," which launched on June 5th atop an Atlas V rocket, was originally due to undock and return to Earth on June 14. However, as engineers from NASA and Boeing studied data from the vehicle's problematic flight to the International Space Station, they have waived off several return opportunities.
On Friday night they did so again, citing the need to spend more time reviewing data.
“We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, in the NASA update. “We are letting the data drive our decision making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking."
Just a few days ago, on Tuesday, officials from NASA and Boeing set a return date to Earth for June 26. But that was before a series of meetings on Thursday and Friday during which mission managers were to review findings about two significant issues with the Starliner spacecraft: five separate leaks in the helium system that pressurizes Starliner's propulsion system and the failure of five of the vehicle's 28 reaction-control system thrusters as Starliner approached the station.
The NASA update did not provide any information about deliberations during these meetings, but it is clear that the agency's leaders were not able to get comfortable with all contingencies that Wilmore and Williams might encounter during a return flight to Earth, including safely undocking from the space station, maneuvering away, performing a de-orbit burn, separating the crew capsule from the service module, and then flying through the planet's atmosphere before landing under parachutes in a New Mexico desert.
Spacecraft has a 45-day limit
Now, the NASA and Boeing engineering teams will take some more time. Sources said NASA considered June 30th as a possible return date, but the agency is also keen to perform a pair of spacewalks outside the station. These spacewalks, presently planned for June 24 and July 2, will now go ahead. Starliner will make its return to Earth some time afterward, likely no earlier than the July 4th holiday.
"We are strategically using the extra time to clear a path for some critical station activities while completing readiness for Butch and Suni’s return on Starliner and gaining valuable insight into the system upgrades we will want to make for post-certification missions," Stich said.
Zitat Starliner will remain docked with the International Space Station (ISS) until at least July 2, roughly a week later than the previously stated target date of June 26. The extra time will allow Boeing and NASA more time to assess several issues that have arisen with the vehicle.
Starliner was initially scheduled to spend about a week at the ISS on this shakeout cruise. But on June 9, NASA and Boeing announced that its departure had been pushed back to no earlier than June 18, to accommodate a planned June 13 NASA spacewalk at the ISS and to allow more time for Starliner checkouts.
Then, on Tuesday (June 18), the planned departure date shifted again, to June 26. The reasoning was similar: The extra time would allow a more detailed assessment of the helium leaks and RCS thruster issues. And there was still a spacewalk to accommodate; the planned June 13 excursion was moved to June 24, after one of the designated spacewalkers experienced discomfort with his suit.
NASA plans to conduct another spacewalk on July 2 and also wants that activity to be done before Starliner comes home, agency officials said in Friday's update.
Zitat International Space Station@Space_Station Today's spacewalk with @NASA_Astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Mike Barratt has been cancelled due to a spacesuit cooling unit water leak. Watch @NASA TV coverage... https://go.nasa.gov/4ei2sMF 2:59 PM · Jun 24, 2024
Zitat NASA astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mike Barratt were told by Mission Control at 8:52 a.m. EDT (1252 GMT) to stop the planned 6.5-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS). The pair had already switched over to the internal power in their suits at 8:46 a.m. (1246 GMT), meaning the spacewalk had technically started. Following the cancellation, astronauts opened the hatch into the ISS at 9:51 a.m. EDT (1351 GMT), officially ending the spacewalk.
While being broadcast on a NASA Television livestream, they had reported "literally water everywhere" as they were moving their suits to internal power to prepare for the extravehicular activity. The leak appeared to be coming from a servicing and cooling umbilical (SCU) on Dyson's spacesuit, she reported. While the situation was serious, the astronauts were not in any danger due to the leak. NASA issued a brief official statement following the cancellation, adding that additional information will follow on the agency's ISS blog.
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