American aerospace giant Boeing on Thursday launched its Starliner capsule towards the International Space Station (ISS) on a key unmanned test flight, after years of failures and false starts.
The Orbital Test Flight 2 (OFT-2) mission took off at 22:54 GMT (19:45 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with the spacecraft attached to a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, according to the NASA live stream. .
The mission’s success is critical to redeeming Boeing’s reputation, after a first failure in 2019, when the attempt to dock with the ISS failed due to software errors, which involved burning a lot of fuel to reach the destination and the possibility of destruction of the spacecraft. during your reentry.
“It’s a big moment,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy shortly before the launch. “When we built the space station, we were really focused on all the amazing science we could do in innovation. Having another way to get there now just gives us more resilience.”
After years of failures and delays, the American aeronautical company Boeing will try to return to competition with SpaceX to serve as a space “taxi” for NASA.
day of redemption
Both companies received fixed-value contracts of $4.2 billion for Boeing and $2.6 billion for SpaceX in 2014, shortly after the end of the space shuttle program, at a time when the United States depended on Russian Soyuz rockets to reach the orbital laboratory.
Boeing, with its centuries-old history, was considered by many to be a safe bet against the practically inexperienced SpaceX. But Musk’s company recently sent its fourth routine crew to the research platform, as Boeing’s development delays cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars.
Starliner is expected to dock with the ISS about 24 hours after launch and deliver more than 226 kg of cargo, including food and other supplies such as clothing or sleeping bags, to the crew.
The unmanned test flight is intended to determine whether the capsule will be capable of carrying humans. It had already been tested, but without success, in 2019, when the spacecraft had to return to Earth ahead of time, avoiding a catastrophe.
Then, in August 2021, a retest had to be canceled just before launch, due to a valve issue detected during final checks.
In the meantime, SpaceX has already successfully conducted its own tests and started transporting NASA astronauts on regular missions.
In total, billionaire Elon Musk’s company has transported 18 astronauts with their own capsule, the Dragon, as well as four space tourists who paid to be on a mission.
However, NASA wants to diversify its options so as not to run the risk of running out of American means of transport again, as happened after the end of space transport missions in 2011. Until the emergence of SpaceX, the American space agency was forced to pay for crew slots on Russia’s Soyuz rockets.
Thursday’s launch is “a crucial step” towards obtaining “two vehicles that transport crews on a regular basis,” Dana Weigel, deputy director of NASA’s ISS program, told a news conference on Tuesday. The director highlighted that a fixed-price contract was signed with both SpaceX and Boeing.
delicate coupling
During the test, a doll named Rosie will be placed in the commander’s seat. It is equipped with 15 sensors, intended to collect information about the structure’s movements.
The approach of the ISS this Friday, around 20:00 GMT, will be closely monitored by the astronauts aboard the station. First, they will order the capsule to stabilize at about 250 meters away, before proceeding with the delicate maneuver of contact and docking. Hours later, the capsule hatch will open.
Starliner will remain docked to the ISS for five days, before returning to Earth to land in the middle of the desert in the state of New Mexico, in the western United States, at the White Sands base.
setbacks in sequence
The development of the Starliner project turned out to be a long epic full of obstacles.
In 2019, the capsule could not enter the correct orbit due to a problem with its clock and had to return to Earth after two days. Boeing later found that other software issues nearly caused a serious flight anomaly.
NASA has prescribed a long list of recommendations and modifications to be carried out. Then, in 2021, when the rocket was already on the launch pad to try a new take-off, a moisture problem caused a chemical reaction that blocked the opening of certain valves in the capsule and the equipment had to return to the workshops for inspections for ten months. .
The problem was solved by hermetically insulating the new valves, with the aim of preventing moisture from entering, Boeing manager Mark Nappi explained Tuesday. However, for the future, other longer-term solutions, including a design change, are already being evaluated by experts.
A lot is at stake for the company, which hopes to be able to make a first manned flight by the end of the year. This second test mission will be instrumental in finally getting NASA’s approval.
But the exact timeline will depend on the capsule’s performance this week, which, at the same time, may restore Boeing’s image, which has been badly damaged by the following setbacks.
