Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft made its first manned launch late this Wednesday morning (5). Takeoff took place around 12 pm (Brasília time), from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida (United States). The spacecraft is taken into space by an Atlas V rocket, from ULA (United Launch Alliance).
The space vehicle carries two astronauts from NASA (US space agency) for a stay of approximately one week at the International Space Station (ISS). Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are expected to arrive at the station on Thursday (6). There, professionals will carry out tests on the Starliner in order to finalize NASA certification so that the spacecraft can become part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, which provides for periodic manned flights to the ISS using the vehicle.
The mission launched this Wednesday, known as the Crew Flight Test, is the culmination of Boeing’s efforts to develop a spacecraft capable of rivaling SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and expanding the United States’ options for taking astronauts to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The North American federal agency’s initiative aims to foster collaboration with private industry partners.
See what the launch was like in the video below.
Liftoff! Go #AtlasV! Go Centaur! Go #Starliner!
Godspeed, Butch Wilmore and @Astro_Suni! pic.twitter.com/kTA8fjcLP7
— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) June 5, 2024
Previous attempts
Several problems caused the cancellation of previous manned launch attempts, on May 6 and June 1.
Two hours before the May 6 launch attempt, 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 Lockheed. Martin. The entire stack, including the rocket and spacecraft, was removed from the launch pad for testing and repairs.
Teams also worked on a small helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module, a “design vulnerability” in the propulsion system, and evaluated the Starliner capsule’s parachutes.
The Starliner was just 3 minutes and 50 seconds away from liftoff on Saturday afternoon (1st), when an automatic stop was triggered by the ground launch sequencer, or 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. Every computer is equal, providing triple redundancy to ensure the safe launch of manned missions.
“Imagine a big bookshelf that is a big computer where the functions of the computer as a controller are divided separately into individual cards or printed circuit boards,” said Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, during a press conference Saturday. . “They’re all standalone, but together, it’s an integrated controller.”
Cards inside computers are responsible for different key systems that must occur before a launch, such as releasing screws on the base of the rocket so it can take off after ignition.
During the final four minutes before launch, all three computers must communicate and agree with each other. But during Saturday’s countdown, a card in one of the computers was six seconds slower in responding than the other two computers, indicating that something was not correct and triggering an automatic stop, according to Bruno.
Over the weekend, engineers evaluated the computers, their power source, and network communications between the computers. The team isolated the problem to a single ground power supply inside one of the computers, which supplies power to the computer cards responsible for key countdown events — including the rocket’s upper stage refueling valves, which also caused a problem. during the countdown, according to an update shared by NASA.
Starliner crews reported no signs of physical damage to the computer, which was removed and replaced with a spare. The other computers and their cards were also evaluated, and all are functioning normally as expected, according to the ULA team.
(With information from Ashley Strickland and Jackie Wattles, from CNN Internacional)
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