After the retirement of the Space Shuttle, American astronauts for a long time had the option of flying to the International Space Station on the Russian Soyuz manned spacecraft. To change that, the United States awarded Boeing and SPaceX contracts to help develop a commercial manned spacecraft to send American astronauts to the International Space Station.
The reason why two commercial companies were chosen to participate in the development of manned spacecraft is that the United States wants to ensure the reliability of the flight and avoid having other spacecraft available as a spare when one of the spacecraft is not effective. Of the two commercial companies, SPaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft has been the first to be developed and has already been put into service, freeing the United States from its dependence on the Russian Soyuz manned spacecraft.
In contrast, the development of Boeing's manned spacecraft is not very smooth, on June 5 this year, Boeing's "Starliner" spacecraft carried out the first manned mission, and in this manned mission, the spacecraft's return time was postponed indefinitely, and the two astronauts involved in this mission do not know when they will be able to return safely. What's going on?
The "Starliner" spacecraft developed by Boeing is part of NASA's "Commercial Crew Program", which is a manned spacecraft developed by NASA in cooperation with commercial companies, which can be reused and can carry up to 7 astronauts, and the main task is to complete the transportation of American astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
While the Starliner spacecraft can carry up to seven astronauts at a time, only two astronauts were on board on its first manned mission on June 5. Before the launch, engineers discovered a series of problems, including problems with the rocket and the spacecraft itself, which led to the launch of the first manned mission being postponed several times.
Even when it was launched on June 5, the spacecraft's helium leakage problem was not resolved, and the spacecraft suffered several helium leaks and thruster failures during the flight.
According to the original plan, the spacecraft will not dock at the International Space Station for a long time, and it was supposed to be evacuated and returned to Earth on June 14, but for various reasons, the spacecraft will return to the country for a long time.
NASA announced that the Starliner spacecraft's return from the ISS has been postponed indefinitely, which means that the spacecraft's problems should be more serious than expected. On June 28, local time, NASA said that the two astronauts had to stay longer in the International Space Station, and the staff will continue to troubleshoot the spacecraft.
The safety of space flight is no trivial matter, and there have been many serious space flight accidents due to spacecraft failures in history, including tragedies when spacecraft from the United States and the former Soviet Union were launched or returned. Therefore, it stands to reason that the United States should know that it is not safe for the spacecraft to go to space with a fault, but it still insists on carrying out the mission under this manned flight.
Adam Baker, the head of a British space company, said that if everything is perfectly prepared for the mission, the time and money cost will be very high, so he understands why NASA and Boeing still carry out the launch mission even though they know that there is a problem with the spacecraft, but he believes that the United States has not fully considered the worst-case outcome.
Simeon Barber, an American space science expert, said that the main task of this manned mission should be to test the astronauts' mastery of the spacecraft, but they are still dealing with the most basic problems. Prior to this, the spacecraft had undergone two unmanned flight tests, and he thought NASA should reflect on why these problems had not been addressed during previous test flights.
Although the timing of the return of the two astronauts is uncertain, NASA insists that the helium leak in the spacecraft poses no threat to the astronauts, and that the astronauts are not trapped in space if they do not return, and they believe that the astronauts can still return to Earth if there is an emergency on the International Space Station.
However, in the worst-case scenario, the two astronauts may need to switch trains and return to Earth in SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. If that's the case, it could be a very embarrassing thing for Boeing.
How thrilling is the return journey?
Although mankind has entered the space age for decades, it is still relatively dangerous for spacecraft to be launched and returned home. Because when the spacecraft returns to the earth in outer space, it needs to break into the atmosphere at high speed, and in the process, the spacecraft will be burned by a high temperature of one or two thousand °C.
On February 1, 2003, the United States Space Shuttle Columbia completed its 16-month flight and began to return to Earth, losing contact after re-entering the atmosphere during the return journey, and then exploded and disintegrated, reducing the shuttle to countless small fragments. All seven astronauts involved in the mission were killed. This is probably one of the saddest space flight accidents in human history.
After the incident, the U.S. side conducted an investigation and believed that the space shuttle fuselage may have been hit by fragments of foam material that fell off from the external fuel tank and the space shuttle's bracket area during the launch, causing damage to the heat insulation tiles on the outside of the space shuttle. During the return to Earth, due to the burning of the high temperature, hot air of up to 1400°C swept through the space shuttle, eventually leading to a serious flight accident.
The return process is thrilling and very dangerous, and there can be no problems with the spacecraft, and such history cannot be repeated again, so if the United States confirms that there is really a problem with this "starliner" spacecraft and cannot ensure the safe return of the astronauts, then it will start a space rescue mission. As for whether the two astronauts will return to Earth on the American company SPaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft or return on the Russian Soyuz manned spacecraft, it is impossible to determine at this time.