Last Updated on 07/09/2024 by Arun jain
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth after a three-month flight test for the International Space Station (ISS). NASA said Saturday.
The spacecraft successfully landed at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico on September 6.
On June 5, Starliner was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board, for a short eight-day mission known as a “crew flight test”.
The mission was Starliner’s final flight test and was intended to “validate the transport system”, with astronauts checking its operational capabilities.
But the Starliner ran into problems before it even reached the ISS, with NASA and Boeing identifying helium leaks and problems with its thrusters as it approached the space station.
“After weeks of space and ground testing, technical interchange meetings and agency reviews, NASA decided to prioritize safety and return Starliner without its crew,” NASA said. “Wilmore and Williams will continue their work on the station as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew, returning in February 2025 with the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.”
Having long since completed their primary functions, NASA Wilmore and Williams now turn to assisting the other ISS crew with maintenance tasks, science experiments and station research.
“Some of the science they’ve recently completed includes new ways to build fiber optic cables and growing plants in orbiting complexes,” NASA said.
It added that the station was “well stocked with everything the crew needed, including food, water, clothing and oxygen” and that Wilmore and Williams “understood the possibilities and unknowns” of their mission, which “included a ride longer than the station.” Planned.”
Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate, said of Starliner’s return: “Even though the spacecraft had to be returned without a crew, NASA and Boeing learned an incredible amount about Starliner in the most extreme environments possible.”
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