![]() In a statement released Friday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said the errant firing was a result of a computer glitch. He added that he’d also never “been so happy to see all solar arrays radiators still attached.” “Never have I ever been prouder of the team,” tweeted ISS Flight Director Zebulon Scoville, who was one of two flight directors overseeing Mission Control during the incident. In a media teleconference on Thursday afternoon, Kathy Lueders, head of NASA’s human spaceflight program, called it “a pretty exciting hour,” and credited the mission team’s preparedness and contingency planning with regaining control of the station. The incident was one of the most serious in the space station’s 22-year history, resulting in a 47-minute period where the station was deemed to be experiencing a “loss of attitude control” as other thrusters fired off in an effort to stabilize the orbiting outpost. Unlike SpaceX's Dragon capsule that splashes down off the Florida coast, Starliner will aim for a landing in New Mexico next Wednesday.The International Space Station (ISS) spun out of control on Thursday when a Russian module unexpectedly began firing its rocket thrusters, sending flight controllers in Moscow and Houston scrambling to recover the station. The space station's seven astronauts will unload groceries and gear from Starliner and pack it up with experiments. "What an incredible birthday it was," he told reporters. It was a double celebration for NASA's commercial crew program director Steve Stich, who turned 57 Friday. "These last 48 hours have just been a barnstorm, so it's going to be very good to sleep tonight," said Mark Nappi, vice president and director of Boeing's commercial crew program. Applause erupted once the latches were tightly secured. When the green light finally came, Starliner closed the gap in four minutes, eliciting cheers in Boeing's control center. The gleaming white-with-blue-trim capsule hovered 33 feet (10 meters) from the station for close to two hours - considerably longer than planned - as flight controllers adjusted its docking ring and ensured everything else was in order. The commander's seat was occupied once again by the mannequin dubbed Rosie the Rocketeer, a space-age version of World War II's Rosie the Riveter. Once Starliner was within 10 miles (15 kilometers) of the space station, Boeing flight controllers in Houston could see the space station through the capsule's cameras. The capsule held a steady temperature, however, and had plenty of other thrusters for steering. Everything checked out well, Boeing said, except for a cooling loop and four failed thrusters. More repairs followed, as Boeing chalked up nearly $600 million in do-over costs.īefore letting Starliner get close to the space station Friday, Boeing ground controllers practiced maneuvering the capsule and tested its robotic vision system. Those were corrected, but when the new capsule awaited liftoff last summer, corroded valves halted the countdown. astronauts were stuck riding Russian rockets once the shuttle program ended, until SpaceX's first crew flight in 2020.īoeing's first Starliner test flight in 2019 was plagued by software errors that cut the mission short and could have doomed the spacecraft. Administrator Bill Nelson said Boeing's long road with Starliner underscores the importance of having two types of crew capsules. NASA wants redundancy when it comes to the Florida-based astronaut taxi service. The astronauts likely to serve on the first Starliner crew joined Boeing and NASA flight controllers in Houston as the action unfolded nearly 270 miles (435 kilometers) up. ![]() If the rest of Starliner's mission goes well, Boeing could be ready to launch its first crew by the end of this year. The automated rendezvous went off without a major hitch, despite the failure of a handful of thrusters. This time, the overhauled spacecraft made it to the right spot following Thursday's launch and docked at the station 25 hours later. ![]() The only other time Boeing's Starliner flew in space, it never got anywhere near the station, ending up in the wrong orbit. "Starliner is looking beautiful on the front of the station," he added. "Today marks a great milestone," NASA astronaut Bob Hines radioed from the orbiting complex. Elon Musk's company pulled off the same test three years ago and has since launched 18 astronauts to the space station, as well as tourists. With Starliner's arrival, NASA finally realizes its longtime effort to have crew capsules from competing U.S.
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