By: Jerry Zhang
On June 5, 2024, two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, commenced their ten-day journey to orbit the Earth aboard the Boeing Starliner. However, on June 6, issues with the thrusters and a helium leak in the spacecraft led to their docking at the International Space Station (I.S.S.).
Since 2014, the aerospace giant, Boeing has been working on the Starliner. NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, contracted two companies, Boeing and SpaceX, to construct new spacecraft for transporting astronauts to the I.S.S., following the retirement of the U.S. space shuttles in 2011. Unlike SpaceX, the newcomer, who successfully launched its Crew Dragon spacecraft, Boeing has faced challenges getting its Starliner off the ground.
In 2024, Boeing has faced a series of challenges. In January, an Alaska Airlines flight experienced a door blowout, leading to an FAA audit that revealed missing bolts on the airplane. Additionally, two whistleblowers died under mysterious circumstances, and there are ongoing issues with the Starliner.
As of now, these two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, have been aboard the I.S.S. for the past month. The current issue with the spacecraft is that 5 out of the 28 thrusters are behaving oddly. Steve Stitch, the manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, reassured the public [where?], saying, “I want to make it very clear that Butch and Suni are not stranded in space. Our plan is to continue to return them on Starliner and bring them home at the right time.”
Engineers on the ground have already started testing identical thrusters to the ones on the Starliner to identify the issue and replicate the errors that occurred with the hope of fixing them. “The test will help us understand thruster performance and may give us 100 percent confidence that everything we’ve seen in orbit is fine,” said Steve Stitch.
In this instance, we see that NASA does its due diligence to prevent a disaster from occurring like the fatal accidents of the past: the 1986 Challenger and 2003 Columbia incidents. In past tragedies, mission managers ignoring the concerns of astronauts contributed greatly to fatalities. “It would be irresponsible for us, if we have time and we want to do more, not to do it,” commented Mark Nappi, program manager at Boeing for Starliner.
With humanity’s renewed focus on the stars, fixing mistakes on these test flights is only a part of NASA’s plan to return to the Moon, go to Mars, and beyond.