Boeing Starliner

Springs? Springs? Is each one calibrated? Will each one push exactly the same? One deviation in one spring can cause a spin in the capsule.
 
Springs? Springs? Is each one calibrated? Will each one push exactly the same? One deviation in one spring can cause a spin in the capsule.

There's a spring loaded docking-ring on the Starliner's docking probe, when that docking-ring is unclamped and released springs behind decompress shoving off the Starliner from the ISS.

On another note the Space bucket has a new video about Starliner's scheduled undocking and return to Earth a day from now:


We are just about 24 hours away from the scheduled undocking of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. For weeks now teams have been busy adjusting the mission plan and flight profile knowing the vehicle will now return without a crew.
In just the last few days cargo has been loaded onto the spacecraft in addition to thorough inspections inside the vehicle. With these steps complete, today the hatch is set to be closed, and assuming everything goes as planned, won’t be opened until Starliner is back on Earth. Here I will go more in-depth into the last-minute departure activities, final milestones, an updated uncrewed reentry process, and more.
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:32 - Closing The Hatch
3:38 - An Uncrewed Return
 
Springs? Springs? Is each one calibrated? Will each one push exactly the same? One deviation in one spring can cause a spin in the capsule.
And if all else fails, you can always use the standard emergency procedure.
 

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And if all else fails, you can always use the standard emergency procedure.

Your drawing is incorrect. From the manual:

1. Attach tether to ISS.

2. Place feet firmly against body of ISS.

3. Push capsule forward in a gentle but firm motion.

4. Repeat until desired distance is reached.

It's all there.
 
NASA reentry and landing webcast:

View: https://youtu.be/vZ0T-cZWh78


NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test Re-entry and Landing

NASA
7 Sept 2024

Watch live as Boeing's uncrewed Starliner spacecraft leaves low Earth orbit, reenters Earth's atmosphere, and touches down at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Starliner is scheduled to begin its deorbit burn at 11:17 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 6 (0317 UTC Sept. 7), with landing scheduled for 12:03 a.m. EDT (0403 UTC) on Saturday, Sept. 7.
 
Yes, but the way things have gone for Boeing lately, the Starliner will stay in place after separation, having ejected and deorbited the ISS. Oopsie!

/snark.
Welll... that was the plan, actually, the helium leak was just a ruse. Boeing got the contract to deorbit ISS, saw the perfect opportunity to deliver ahead of time on, well, anything at all, really. Can't do that now, so they will have to send up something else in a few years time to meet the original schedule.
 
Welll... that was the plan, actually, the helium leak was just a ruse. Boeing got the contract to deorbit ISS, saw the perfect opportunity to deliver ahead of time on, well, anything at all, really. Can't do that now, so they will have to send up something else in a few years time to meet the original schedule.
And now you've disclosed the "Alan Parsons" Project. On a public forum yet! Don't be surprised if a security detail of sharks with frick'n lasers on their heads shown up knocking on your door.
 
I've just been watching Boeing's Starliner YT channel
For me it was the sort of watch party with Starliner, Lego builds, on Ellie in Space's YouTube live stream.
Although chat commenters were having fun being a bit brutal to Boeing there was honest gladness at the successful landing.
 

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And now the buck is on NASA, another bad episode for them.

I wonder if there isn´t a potential to go to court. That´s a question that, as I see, should be discussed.

I imagine Butch or Sunita filling a complaint after their return. The only thing that they would need is an incident on the ISS, some physical impact for the longer stay or a slight divergence in the vehicle optimal return flight.

IMOHO, I would see that as a good development. Time we see an end to the Council of Elders that our agencies on either side of the pond have become...

iu
 
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NASA decided there was undue risk to the lives of Butch and Sunita in a Boeing product that NASA had reason to suspect of being defective.

I think NASA took the right decision, and I think any court will concur.

If any party will be sued in this matter, it will be Boeing. I would not bet on a conviction, though.
 
The question that I would like answered is just how many millions or indeed billions of dollars that Boeing will be sued for this mess-up Arjen, and I also suspect that several heads will roll as well.
 
And now the buck is on NASA, another bad episode for them.

In what way? Just because the Starliner came down without incident does not mean the risk was acceptable with a human crew on board. For all we know this was a fluke success. The White Sands testing certainly revealed that the thrusters were prone to fail I ways that had never been seen or predicted before.

I would see that as a good development. Time we see an end to the Council of Elders that our agencies on either side of the pond have become...

I'm not even sure what this is meant to suggest. The flight safety review done by NASA seems to have been as open to dissenting views as anyone could ask for. It speaks really well of that process that it was able to change leadership's minds -- it's clear they went in expected to approve a manned return but based on the evidence discovered during the review, it became impossible to endorse that opinion. That only happened because the process was internally transparent and people came to it with open minds.
 
Transparency is absolutely preferable but, as a corollary, it also exposes managerial decision to unnecessary pressures and counter productive incentives. Some points are meant to be discussed collegially.
Rationally NASA couldn´t have denied Boeing the manned return if there was not the public opinion in their motives. They could have asked for contingencies, like a single astronaut sent back etc... Same for the FAA jumping on every unplanned events with SpaceX. You open an inquiry and further see if a grounding is necessary, not the other way around (see how Falcon last grounding was lifted in less than 48hrs).

NASA has been pressed to rely more on private launch. They need now to reassess their role and how they will stand in the future regarding their core missions, which are essentials (we gonna have way more civilians up there. The burden of responsibilities is up!). Because, on one hand, we have crazy money spent on crazy things with unbelievably scarce supervision, while on the other, space entrepreneurs out of the Defense Agency must feel like dating their first girl with her uncle Jimmy in the back seat.
 
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Rationally NASA couldn´t have denied Boeing the manned return if there was not the public opinion in their motives.
I disagree. Human lives were at stake, reentry exposes any spacecraft to extreme conditions.
They could have asked for contingencies, like a single astronaut sent back
Deciding to risk one dead astronaut rather than two is a decision I would not make unless it is the only option - and it was not. Death is final.
And, just as a science/Math point: because Starliner came down without any incident related to the flagged risks, that means that the risk were acceptable.
There was no way to know that in advance.
 
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I imagine Butch or Sunita filling a complaint after their return.
Butch and Sunita are and have been professional test pilots, they would be well aware that not every object or process will function flawlessly on every test. It is also a known quantity that either, or even both, foreseen and unforeseen things can happen in both tests and in daily use.

What has happened is not some kind of spectacular aberration which went beyond the boundaries of test flight possibilities.

While 'Failure is not an option', as I think Gene Kranz titled a book, failure of the totality, or of one or more components, of a thing or a process is always a possibility whether openly admitted to self and public or not.

Along with that, what we know about the thing is what the media has reported & the media has bills to pay, therefore they have an existential need to get people interested in their reports, the media also is aware that humans are creatures of emotion, therefore in order to get the views that pay those bills, the media instigates emotional reactions to the media's material.
 
NASA decided there was undue risk to the lives of Butch and Sunita in a Boeing product that NASA had reason to suspect of being defective

NASA did NOT want a repeat of the 2003 Columbia accident as that would've been terrible PR for NASA and even worse for Boeing's already battered reputation (Boeing senior management is already in the doghouse with the US Federal government over the KC-46A programme,, Starliner of course and the 737MAX).
 
That´s why ppl onboard could have passed the right information. this is all about having test pilots....

While that's a good point NASA has been burned in the past with the loss of two Space Shuttles that resulted in total crew loss (Especially the Columbia accident), NASA is playing it safe.

NASA has had a post-landing status update, from SciNews:


For Boeing’s Crew Flight Test, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, named “Calypso”, without NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, landed at White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico, on 7 September 2024, at 04:01 UTC (00:01 EDT, 6 September, at 22:01 local time). Steve Stich (manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Programan) details the landing process.Credit: NASA
 

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