Can the "starliner" go up or down? 2 astronauts "wandering in space", Boeing: definitely coming back

National Business Daily

2024-06-30 13:07The official account of National Business Daily

CCTV News, NASA announced on the 27th that it would work with Boeing to continue to study the problems of the Boeing "Starliner" spaceflight propulsion system. On the afternoon of the 28th Eastern time, they will also hold a press conference on the latest situation of the "starliner". Due to technical problems, Boeing's Boeing spacecraft has repeatedly postponed its return to Earth with two astronauts from the International Space Station, and the final date of the spacecraft's return to Earth has not been determined.

The Boeing Starliner spacecraft took two U.S. astronauts, Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams, to the skies on the 5th of this month for the first manned test flight, as the final step in obtaining certification from NASA as flyworthiness for conventional commercial space missions. The spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station on the 6th.

However, the good times were short-lived. The spacecraft was originally scheduled to leave the International Space Station on the 14th and return to Earth, but later suffered from thruster failures and other problems, and the return time was delayed several times, and there is no exact date yet. According to Reuters, citing anonymous sources, the spacecraft's next return is expected on July 6, which means that the original eight-day mission will last for up to a month.

It is understood that the "Starliner" has carried out two unmanned test flights since 2019, and during this manned test mission, there were 5 thruster failures, 5 helium leaks, and 1 poor operation of the propellant control valve. NASA and Boeing had to conduct more tests to confirm that the problem was resolved.

The Washington Post bluntly said on the 25th that the postponement of the return to the ground caused by technical problems and whether Boeing can overcome these problems not only reflect the high risk of the "Starliner" program in the future, but also reflect the high risk of Boeing's entry into space. Boeing urgently needs to prove that it can fly astronauts safely and overcome the technical challenges that plague spacecraft and the company's commercial aviation division.

On June 28, local time, CCTV reporters learned that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said that the two astronauts would stay in space for a longer time to continue to troubleshoot the Boeing "Starliner" spacecraft.

According to Red Star News, it is understood that the original mission time of the manned test flight of the "interstellar airliner" is 8 days. However, due to the failure of some of the thrusters and the helium leakage of the propulsion system, the return date of the two astronauts was first postponed to June 26. After the NASA high-level meeting, the return date was adjusted to July.

The report pointed out that before the launch, engineers detected a helium leak in the "Starliner", but believed that the leak was very small and would not affect the launch. According to reports, the main role of helium is to push the propellant into the thruster system. However, after the launch into the sky, the "starliner" had four more helium leaks. In addition, 5 of its 28 thrusters stopped operating as they approached the station, and 4 of them restarted.

"If everything is perfectly prepared before a test flight, the time and money costs will be very high." Adam Baker, the head of a British aerospace company, said he understood that NASA and Boeing had launched a "starliner" despite discovering a helium leak, "I don't think they were fully considering the worst-case scenario." ”

Simeon Barber, an American space science expert, believes that the focus of this manned test flight should be to test the astronauts' mastery of the aircraft. "But we're still dealing with the most basic issues, and NASA needs to reflect on why it didn't address them after the first two test flights."

Barber believes that for NASA, what needs to be determined now is the root cause of the helium leak and thruster failure. NASA said engineers hope to study the spacecraft before it re-enters the atmosphere to find out the cause of the failure. However, some analysts say that during the process of returning to the atmosphere, some components of the spacecraft will be burned out, and key data may be lost.

"The astronauts are not trapped, and we guarantee that if something goes wrong with the ISS, the astronauts can return to Earth." NASA stressed that the helium leak would not pose a risk to astronauts. Adam Baker said that taking 10,000 steps back, the two astronauts could return to Earth on a SpaceX spacecraft, but that could be very embarrassing for Boeing.

Editor|Wang Yuelong, Yi Qijiang

Proofreading|Duan Lian

The daily economic news is synthesized from CCTV news and Red Star news

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