Earlier this morning after over a decade of development and testing, we finally watched Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft lift off with humans aboard. This came after a few scrubbed attempts primarily related to the Atlas V launch vehicle both on the 1st of this month and early last month. Fourntately, today there were no issues, and as the clock hit zero the engines ignited and the rocket soon cleared the pad.
By now, Starliner is making its way to the International Space Station with around 20 hours left in its journey. With this mission being considered a test, the rest of the journey to the ISS to the docking and finally the return to Earth will primarily focus on the crew. Here I will go more in-depth into the launch, the remaining mission plan, next steps, and more.
Initial Launch
With the clock nearing zero, some of the final preparations were made including retracting the crew access arm and going through various final checks. At T-4:00, the countdown continued on, passing the point where the last attempt on June 1st was scrubbed. Finally, as the clock hit zero, the water deluge system activated and each of the Atlas V engines ignited, lifting both the rocket and the crew into the air. They soon cleared the pad and began accelerating and gaining altitude.
Only 50 seconds in the rocket passed through Max Q, which is the moment of peak mechanical stress on the launch vehicle and spacecraft. It held up well and continued on with the mission. Just over a minute later and we got some great views via an onboard camera of the rocket’s exhaust and Earth in the background. At T + 2:18 both of the side boosters were jettisoned successfully with mission control confirming the vehicle was still on track. Between this mission objective and the next, you could even see chunks of ice falling off the side of the booster.
Only a few minutes later at T+4:36 was booster stage separation. An onboard camera on the bottom of the second stage showed the booster disconnecting from the stage before the Centaur’s two engines ignited only seconds later. Around this time you could also see part of the cover that helps protect Starliner’s docking system fly off from the top of the second stage. This reveals a grid of supports rather than the uniform skirt that you see when it initially launches. At this point, the broadcast switched from onboard views of the actual rocket to telemetry-based animations showcasing the vehicle’s position and state. The Centaur engines stayed ignited helping push the spacecraft into orbit all the way until T+11:56. For the next 3 minutes the upper stage and spacecraft primarily coasted until the final separation of Starliner from the upper stage at T+14:55.
About 15 minutes passed before the crew and Starliner was ready to complete an orbital insertion burn using onboard thrusters. At exactly T+31:00, the graphic showed the ignition of all the spacecraft engines. Flight controllers also confirmed that they saw four good OMACS burn. The burn lasted a total of 37 seconds before the thrusters were finally shut off. They then confirmed the burn was successful based on the resulting trajectory and flight data. This prompted mission control and flight controllers to cheer and celebrate at each of the various sites.
However, nearly 34 minutes into the flight mission controllers pointed out a slight anomaly. Here when talking to the crew on Starliner he was quoted saying, “Hey you do have good cooling but we are watching it though cause the water usage is just a little more than what we thought we were going to see, you probably noticed that.” He went on to mention a fix the mission controllers were working on. This specific instance is related to a portion of spacecraft cooling. Specifically in a press conference held after the launch this morning Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial crew program was quoted saying, “We use a sublimater, to provide cooling during the launch and landing phase. It creates a block of ice essentially and then that ice as heat is passed into that ice block, a thin layer of it turns into vapor and rejects heat away. We used a little bit more water than we expected during the ascent. We have a backup system where we can go ahead and refill the sublimater tank. It was good to get this data for this flight and understand it. The team let that sublimater run a little longer to collect some data” he said. They did clarify that it was under control but they were keeping an eye on it.
By this point, the spacecraft had completed a lot of the initial mission needs and now it was the crews turn for a busy journey to the ISS. As partially mentioned prior, it’s around a 24-hour trip in space to the ISS on the trajectory Starliner used. This means some of the final rendevous maneuvers are set to happen tomorrow morning along with the docking. In terms of specifics, the docking is targeted at 12:15 pm est tomorrow, followed by the hatch opening at 2 pm. All that being said, there is still a lot of work left between now and then.
The Rest of The Mission
This is the third flight of Starliner but the first to have crew. For that reason, almost all the primary tests and objectives of this launch are crew-oriented. For example, during the flight, the spacecraft and its crew will perform several flight test objectives, supporting the eventual certification ahead of regular rotation missions for Starliner. The first test is to demonstrate performance of crew equipment from prelaunch through ascent, including suit and seat performance. During approach, rendezvous, and docking with the station, the Starliner team will assess spacecraft thruster performance for manual abort scenarios, conduct communication checkouts, test manual and automated navigation, and evaluate life support systems. Crew aboard the station will monitor the spacecraft’s approach and the Starliner crew would command any necessary aborts.
Tomorrow morning as Starliner approaches the station we can expect a few important milestones. The spacecraft will autonomously dock to the forward-facing port of the Harmony module. The test objective is to perform hatch opening and closing operations, configure the spacecraft for its time docked to the station, and transfer emergency equipment into the station. During its stay, the crew will evaluate the spacecraft, its displays, and cargo transfer systems. Wilmore and Williams will also go inside Starliner, close the hatch, and demonstrate the spacecraft can perform as a “safe haven”. Once docked, the initial and primary objective of this Starliner launch will be complete.
From there, Wilmore and Williams will live and work alongside the Expedition 71 crew for about a week before boarding Starliner for return to Earth. After undocking, the next flight test objective will assess manual piloting of Starliner before switching back to autonomous operations. The crew will spend approximately six hours in the spacecraft from undocking until its first landing opportunity. During re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft will begin to slow down from orbital velocity at 17,500 miles per hour, and the crew could feel loads up to 3.5 g. The spacecraft’s forward heat shield will be jettisoned after re-entry, having completed its work protecting the parachute system, and two drogue and three main parachutes will further slow Starliner’s descent. The base heat shield will deploy, exposing the dual airbag system. The six primary airbags will deploy at the base of the capsule, cushioning its landing at approximately 4 mph in the western United States. Potential landing locations include two targets in the vast White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; Willcox, Arizona; and Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. Edwards Air Force Base in California is available as a contingency landing site. In the post-launch press conference earlier today, it was also mentioned that the return/landing date is not necessarily set in stone and they will make sure every factor is perfect for the attempt.
NASA points out that “After touchdown, the crew aboard Starliner is responsible for jettisoning the parachutes, initiating spacecraft power down, and conducting a satellite phone call with the mission control landing and recovery teams. The landing and recovery team will use sensors to check for lingering hypergolic propellant traces and electrically ground the command module before other team members approach. Recovery crews will raise a tent around Starliner and pump cool air into the spacecraft. A mobile access platform is positioned in front of the spacecraft’s hatch and a medical support vehicle will move into position. Once Starliner’s hatch is opened, with less than one hour having passed since landing, the astronauts will move to the medical vehicle for initial health checks. A ground team will begin an early cargo transfer, removing experiments from the spacecraft to transport to NASA’s facilities. Wilmore and Williams will fly on a nearby helicopter for transportation to a NASA aircraft that will return them to Ellington Field in Houston. Finally, if everything is successful, following a landing and recovery, NASA will complete work to certify the spacecraft as an operational crew system for long-duration rotation missions to the space station, beginning with NASA’s Boeing Starliner-1 expected to launch in 2025.
In a final quote, the agency said, “NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is working with the American aerospace industry to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil to the International Space Station. This innovative approach is helping the agency maintain a human presence in low Earth orbit and enable exploration to the Moon in preparation for Mars for the benefit of humanity.”
Conclusion
Finally, after many years of work and delays, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft lifted off with humans aboard. So far the mission has been very successful as it begins its long journey to the ISS for an eventual docking. Over the next few hours, we can expect the crew to be busy working, testing different features, and preparing for the rendevous. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.