Boeing's Starliner capsule docks with International Space Station
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If all goes well with the current mission, the Starliner - seen here approaching the International Space Station - could fly its first team of astronauts to the space station as early as the autumn.
CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida) • Boeing's new Starliner crew capsule has docked for the first time with the International Space Station (ISS), completing a major objective in a high stakes do-over test flight into orbit without astronauts aboard.
The rendezvous of the gumdrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner with the orbital research outpost, currently home to a seven-member crew, occurred in the early hours yesterday, nearly 26 hours after the capsule was launched from the Cape Canaveral US Space Force Station in Florida.
Starliner lifted off on Friday atop an Atlas V rocket furnished by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance and reached its intended preliminary orbit 31 minutes later despite the failure of two onboard thrusters.
Boeing said the two defective thrusters posed no risk to the rest of the spaceflight, which comes after more than two years of delays and costly engineering setbacks in a programme designed to give Nasa another vehicle for sending its astronauts to and from orbit.
Docking with the ISS took place at 8.28am Singapore time yesterday as the two vehicles flew 436km over the south Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia, according to commentators on a live Nasa webcast of the linkup.
It marked the first time spacecraft from both of Nasa's Commercial Crew Programme partners were physically attached to the space station at the same time. A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule has been docked at the space station since delivering four astronauts to the ISS late last month.
Much was riding on the outcome, after an ill-fated first test flight in late 2019 nearly ended with the vehicle's loss following a software glitch that effectively foiled the spacecraft's ability to reach the space station.
Subsequent problems with Starliner's propulsion system, supplied by Aerojet Rocketdyne, led Boeing to scrub a second attempt to launch the capsule last summer.
Starliner remained grounded for nine more months while the two companies sparred over what caused fuel valves to stick shut and which firm was responsible for fixing them, Reuters reported. Boeing said it ultimately resolved the issue with a temporary workaround and plans a redesign after the flight.
Besides seeking a cause of thruster failures shortly after Friday's launch, Boeing said that it was monitoring some unexpected behaviour detected with Starliner's thermal-control system, but that the capsule's temperatures remained stable.
The capsule is to depart from the space station on Wednesday for a return flight to Earth, ending with an airbag-softened parachute landing in the New Mexico desert.
A success is seen as pivotal to Boeing as the Chicago-based company scrambles to climb out of successive crises in its jetliner business and its space defence unit. The Starliner programme alone has cost nearly US$600 million (S$828 million) in engineering setbacks since the 2019 mishap.
If all goes well with the current mission, Starliner could fly its first team of astronauts to the space station as early as the autumn. REUTERS
