The Starliner Test Mission – op-ed

Introduction

Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of space and all the companies that are involved in developing the technology to allow us to have a future in space.  That includes supporting most of what Elon Musk does, except when related to X.  I think Elon’s strongest skill is the ability to come up with ideas and then find amazingly talented people to make those ideas come to life.

The Starliner Program History

In 2014 NASA awarded $4.2 billion to develop a crewed spacecraft to take crews to the International Space Station (ISS), SpaceX was awarded $2.6 billion at the same time for their vehicle.

The uncrewed test flight was originally planned for 2017 but due to a number of issues, including supplier problems and technical, this flight was delayed multiple times eventually lifting off on December 20th, 2019.  However, this flight never made it to the ISS due to issues after launch with the spacecraft using too much fuel when reaching order.  Boeing was forced to schedule a second uncrewed mission, this was originally scheduled for August 2021, however, late in the countdown that launch was scrubbed due to value problems.  The second uncrewed test flight eventually lifted off on May 19th, 2022, and successfully made it to the ISS, however, there were some thruster issues during that mission

Following the second uncrewed flight Boeing proceeded towards the first crewed test flight.

The Crewed Test Flight

The crewed flight was designed as the final test mission for Starliner before being certified for full-duration rotation missions.  The original plan was to spend 8 days at the ISS and then return for a soft landing.  NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore were selected for the mission which would be their third spaceflight each.

Unfortunately, the run-up to this launch was also plagued with delays due to parachute issues and flammable tape needing to be replaced.  The launch was finally scheduled for May 6th, 2024, which was scrubbed due to an oxygen valve issue on the Atlas V rocket.  A helium leak on the Starliner service module further delayed the launch which finally lifted off on June 5th, 2024, despite still having the helium leak.

Boeing and NASA decided to proceed with the crewed test flight despite having a known helium leak issue, the rationale was that the vehicle had a significant margin available and the leak rate wasn’t a concern.

Once in orbit, Starliner started approaching the ISS and during this process, additional helium leaks were detected during the docking process, five of the reaction control thrusters (RCS) failed causing the docking to be delayed while Boeing investigated.  After the delay four of the five thrusters were returned to service leaving one in the failed state.  Starliner eventually completed the docking phase of the mission allowing the crew member to board the station.

This wasn’t the end of the problems for Starliner, while docked NASA and Boeing continued to investigate the thruster issues, it was also disclosed during one of NASA press conferences about Starliner that a fifth helium leak had been detected.  While docked they could shut off the helium system which stopped the leaking, however, it would be needed again after undocking so the leaks would return then.

Over the next two months Boeing and NASA would continue to investigate the thruster issues, including performing tests of the thrusters while docked to ISS, they also performed tests on the same thrusters at NASA’s White Sands in New Mexico.  During this time they gathered a lot of data and were finally able to identify what was causing the thruster issues, however, these issues cannot be fixed on the vehicle that is already in orbit.

Due to the ongoing issues with Starliner the next crew rotation mission SpaceX Crew 9 which was originally scheduled for August 18th, 2024 had to be delayed to allow NASA more time to determine what would happen with Starliner.  (ISS only has two docking ports available that Starliner/Dragon can dock at and both are occupied at present)

On Saturday, August 24th, 2024 NASA’s Bill Nelson announced that the two crew members Sunita and Barry would not be returning to Earth on Starliner but would instead stay on the station until February 2025 and return aboard the SpaceX Dragon vehicle with the Crew 9 crew.  To accomplish this the Crew 9 launch will only take two crew members instead of the original four and will carry a spare suit, there is already a spare on ISS.

NASA has not yet announced when the uncrewed Starliner capsule will leave the station when the Crew 9 launch will happen, and who will be dropped from that launch.

My feelings on this

There is no easy way to say this so I will be blunt, this has been a PR disaster for Boeing and also NASA.

Yes, it was a test flight and yes the astronauts knew there were risks, there are risks on every crewed launch which is why they have abort zones along the whole launch corridor.  

However, the lack of communications about the issues after docking led to a whole flurry of articles that basically announced the two crew members Sunita and Barry were stranded at the ISS.  While technically that wasn’t true because they could have returned on Starliner and/or Dragon the lack of information from NASA/Boeing allowed this story to continue to grow.

Boeing further hurt their cause when Mark Nappi announced at one of the early press conferences that he had seen all the negative press announcements, and yet had not done anything to counter it.

It was also interesting to note that at the later press conferences about the whole situation, there was no one from Boeing at all on the calls.

The impact to Crew 9 should also not be dismissed, the four crew members have been training together for his flight and now two of them will be delayed.  It is not known at this time who will be dropped from the NASA astronauts and when they will be rescheduled.

At the end of the day, NASA really didn’t have any choice in this decision, they were in a catch-22 scenario.  If they decided to return the crew on Starliner and the thrusters failed the two astronauts could be stranded in space until the vehicle eventually deorbits, which depending on when the thrusters failed could take one to two years.  If the uncrewed vehicle returns without any issues there will be some who criticize NASA for now allowing the crew to come back on it.

Whatever happens after this flight Boeing and NASA have some very tough decisions to make about the future of Starliner.

1. They are going to need to fully identify the issues and how they can be resolved before the next flight.
2. They are going to need to implement the changes needed.
3. They are going to have to decide if they are going to fly another test mission or go to a full 6-month rotation mission.  If they fly another test mission they are going to need to see if one of the Atlas V’s that is currently assigned to another flight can be freed up as there are none left and Vulcan isn’t crew certified at present.

Personally, I hope the Starliner program can come back from this because we need to have multiple ways to get crews to orbit, especially as SpaceX had a brief standdown of Falcon 9 due to an issue with a second stage during a Starlink launch.