More issues discovered ahead of Starliner launch Saturday - this time on the space station
When NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams blast into space Saturday onboard Boeing's Starliner on its maiden crewed flight, they'll be heading to the International Space Station without their personal luggage.
That's by design, although the reason is just the latest hiccup to face this launch, targeted for 12:25 p.m. Saturday.
A urine processor pump on the station failed this week, and the Starliner is coming to the rescue with a repair pump. But to accommodate the unexpected extra weight being lofted up to space, something had to go. That something was the astronaut's personal belongings.
"A huge Kudos goes to the whole team for the quick response. I mean, they turned this around rapidly," Dana Weigel, International Space Station Program Manager, told the media during a Friday news briefing.
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This Starliner launch atop an Atlas V rocket is a long-anticipated flight aimed at certifying the spacecraft to fly NASA astronauts along with SpaceX's Dragon. During Friday's media briefing, officials noted that the window to complete that certification closes in November. In order for certification to occur, the post-flight data must be downloaded and thoroughly reviewed by teams at NASA and Boeing.
Getting to this launch attempt hasn't been easy. But Boeing, NASA, and United Launch Alliance reiterated Friday that the issues which have occurred since the May 6 scrub have been investigated and the spacecraft is safe for spaceflight. All have polled "go" for Saturday's launch.
Urine pump failure causes change in Starliner cargo
NASA officials said that on Wednesday, a pump failed on the space station's urine processor assembly. This is part of the closed loop sustainability system onboard the ISS, or simply put, the life support system.
The problem was unexpected, as NASA had estimated the urine pump would last until the fall.
"That urine processor takes all of the crew's urine and processes it in the first step of a water recovery system. It then sends it downstream to a water processor which turns it into drinking water," Weigel said.
NASA has since worked with Boeing to get a new pump — which weighs 150 pounds and is three feet long, 20 inches by 20 inches — in the Starliner cargo. With a spacecraft having a limited amount of weight it can carry to space, a trade off had to be made. NASA officals stated that Williams and Wilmore had to remove their suitcases, which contained their clothes and personal hygiene products. Instead, the crew will use spare clothes and supplies already onboard the space station.
SpaceX discovers issues on International Space Station
NASA officials stated that another issue cropped up on the space station with a reflector in a docking port.
"We received some data from SpaceX on a reflector on ISS that showed during some of their Dragon approaches ... that there was some degradation in the return signal from one of the reflectors," said Steve Stich, the program manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. "So SpaceX provided some data to us. We took that data and gave it over to Mark and the Boeing team. They ran a few simulations to make sure that if that reflector weren't there overall, we could go in and dock successfully."
Mark refers to Mark Nappi, the vice president and program manager of Boeing's Commercial Crew Program.
Stich noted that reflector issue as an example of the strong communication between the different companies flying to space.
Recently, Blue Origin returned to crewed suborbital spaceflight on their New Shepard spacecraft. During the landing of NS-25 on May 19, only two of the three parachutes deployed. This posed little risk to the crew, as the two parachutes provided enough redundancy to safely land.
NASA's Stich stated that in the case of NS-25, the system which cuts the line that allows the parachute to deploy simply was not cut. Blue Origin investigated the issue, and knowing Boeing's Starliner uses a parachute system similar to New Shepard, shared data with Boeing, which ran an analysis of Starliner's data, showing no issues.
Boeing helium leak issue
One of the bigger and still persistent issues facing Starliner was a helium leak on a thruster on Starliner's service module after the May 6 scrub. That's the expendable bottom of the spacecraft that contains the thrusters.
The leak is about the size of a softball, officials said, and considered stable. But Boeing will be checking it before launch.
The helium tank holds 150 pounds and if left open, would leak a half of a pound per day. The manifold will close shut when Starliner is docked to ISS, and helium will be unable to leak. This leaves no cause for concern during the stay on the station.
And officials have studied the potential impact on a safe return and concluded that even in the worst case scenario, Starliner could get back to Earth safely.
"We have very high confidence the solution we came up with works," Nappi said.
NASA's Stich says Starliner can handle a leak 100 times larger than this. The reason the failed seal on the thruster was not replaced is because it would be difficult and unsafe to work on and the mission can be completed as is, officials said.
Starliner Crew is ready for launch
Over the past month, Williams and Wilmore were able to return home to their families in Texas while continuing to take health precautions. They returned back to the Cape on Tuesday to get ready for Saturday's launch attempt.
Astronaut Mike Fincke, who was the backup astronaut for this flight and is slated to fly on Starliner-1, spoke on behalf of the crew. He said they spent Friday doing checks in Starliner.
As both are test pilots, Williams and Wilmore and are looking forward to getting test flight data from this new spacecraft, Fincke said.
"I think if you ask Butch and Suni directly, and I can answer for them, they feel very comfortable and confident we have chosen a good path forward," said Finke.
Starliner Launch
Starliner is set for liftoff at 12:25 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 41. ULA crews will report for duty at 1 a.m. on Saturday morning to prepare the Atlas V rocket to take flight.
If needed, backup launch opportunities exist at 12:03 p.m. on June 2 and on June 5 and June 6.
If Starliner scrubs past June 6, it will have to stand down at least another 10 days to replace batteries on the systems.
Weather for Starliner launch
Saturday's weather is 90% favorable for the launch of Starliner. Local eastern winds of 21-30 mph may cause an issue at the time of launch. Due to Starliner having to catch up to the ISS ? which is orbiting at 17,500 mph around the Earth ?Starliner must launch instantaneously, meaning there is no launch window.
Sunday sees a southern shift in the wind direction with wind speeds of 17-25 mph.
When will Starliner dock to the ISS?
Starliner will dock to the International Space Station at approximately 1:50 p.m. on Sunday, June 2.
The crew will spend a minimum of eight days onboard testing the performance of the spacecraft.
Monday, June 10 is the earliest targeted landing date, yet the crew could stay longer to do more testing or in the case of bad weather at the landing site in New Mexico.
Be sure to follow the FLORIDA TODAY Space Team at floridatoday.com/space for the latest updates from the Space Coast.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @brookeofstars.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Astronauts launching on Boeing Starliner bringing key repair pump to ISS