After a successful launch A decade in the making, Boeing’s Starliner mission is navigating new issues on its way to the International Space Station, according to NASA.
The space agency said Wednesday night in a post on X that two additional helium leaks were detected in the vehicle. A helium leak was discovered before launch and considered acceptable.
“Teams identified three helium leaks on the spacecraft. One of these was previously discussed before the flight, along with a management plan,” NASA shared in the post. “The other two are new since the spacecraft arrived in orbit. Two of the affected helium valves have been closed and the spacecraft remains stable.”
A related exchange occurred earlier in the NASA Broadcast.
Just as astronauts Butch Willmore and Suni Williams were about to sleep, mission control informed them that they needed to close two valves due to new helium leaks.
“It appears we have detected a few more helium leaks,” mission control told the astronauts, as heard on the broadcast. Controllers then walked the crew through the plan to turn off the valves.
“We’re ready to… find out exactly what you mean by detecting another helium leak, so hand it over to us,” Wilmore told them.
“Butch, I’m sorry. We’re still gathering the story,” mission control responded.
NASA and Boeing have since determined that the crew is safe and have told them to sleep while they continue to analyze the data. The crew was supposed to get nine hours of sleep, but troubleshooting efforts shaved off an hour of rest.
“We have some issues to watch out for overnight regarding the helium leaks that were just mentioned, and we have a lot of smart people here on the ground who are going to take a look at these things and keep an eye on it. , but the vehicle is in a configuration now where it is safe to fly,” Boeing aerospace engineer Brandon Burroughs said on the NASA broadcast.
Meanwhile, the “crew remains en route to the (ISS) and is in a sleep period,” according to the post from NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
It’s not yet clear what the impact of the leaks will be, but all indications are that the plan is still for the Starliner to dock with the International Space Station on Thursday.
Historic launch
The long-awaited Starliner journey lifted off atop an Atlas V rocket on Wednesday at 10:52 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The historic launch marked the first time the spacecraft carried a crew into space.
The mission, known as the Crew Flight Test, is the culmination of Boeing’s efforts to develop a spacecraft that rivals SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and expand the United States’ options for transporting astronauts to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The federal agency’s initiative aims to promote collaboration with private industry partners.
The flight marks just the sixth maiden voyage of a manned spacecraft in U.S. history, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson noted at a May news conference.
“It started with Mercury, then Gemini, then Apollo, the space shuttle, then (SpaceX’s) Dragon — and now Starliner,” Nelson said.
Williams also made history as the first woman to fly aboard such a mission.
“This is another milestone in this extraordinary NASA story,” Nelson said Wednesday after the launch. “And I want to give my personal congratulations to the entire team who have gone through many trials and tribulations. But they had perseverance and that’s what we do at NASA. We don’t release it until it’s right.”
After spending just over 24 hours traveling to the space station, Williams and Wilmore were scheduled to spend about eight days living in the orbiting laboratory, joining the seven astronauts and cosmonauts already on board.
Troubleshooting weeks
A series of problems meant that previous manned launch attempts, on May 6 and June 1, were scrapped.
Two hours before the launch attempt on May 6, engineers identified a problem with a valve in the second stage, or upper part, of the Atlas V rocket, which was built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Boeing. LockheedMartin. The entire stack, including the rocket and spacecraft, was removed from the launch pad for testing and repairs.
The teams also worked through a small helium leak inside the spacecraft service module and a “design vulnerability”In the propulsion system.
After resolving the initial helium leak in May, mission experts discovered it posed no threat to flight. During the launch countdown on Wednesday morning, teams monitored the leak and reported no problems.
The Starliner was just 3 minutes and 50 seconds from takeoff on Saturday afternoon when a automatic hold has been triggered by the ground launch sequencer or by the computer that launches the rocket.
United Launch Alliance technicians and engineers evaluated ground support equipment over the weekend, examining three large computers housed inside a shelter at the base of the launch pad. Each computer is the same, providing triple redundancy to ensure the safe launch of manned missions.
Engineers have isolated the problem that halted Saturday’s launch attempt to a single terrestrial power supply inside one of the computers, which provides power to the computer boards responsible for the main countdown events, according to an update shared by NASA.
They removed the computer and replaced it with a spare.
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