New try at first manned area flight for Boeing's Starliner spacecraft | EUROtoday
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Dwill take off, is not going to take off? After a number of successive postponements, the vessel Crew Space Transportation 100 (CST-100) Starliner of Boeing, which was initially scheduled to go away Earth with two American astronauts on board on May 6, might lastly take off for the International Space Station (ISS) this Saturday 1er June at 6:25 p.m. (Paris time), from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
This inaugural flight will carry solely two passengers: two skilled American astronauts, a person, Barry Wilmore, and a girl, Sunita Williams, former US Navy members who’ve already spent two stays every on the ISS. If the launch time is maintained, their automobile ought to dock with the ISS on Sunday June 2 round 7:50 p.m. After which, they’ll keep there for a few week earlier than returning to Earth aboard the identical capsule, which is able to perform then a parachute and airbag assisted touchdown within the southwest of the United States.
In the occasion of additional setbacks, NASA has already indicated that different firing home windows can be out there on Sunday June 2, Wednesday June 5 and Thursday June 6. First grounded on May 6 following an anomaly recognized on a strain regulating valve of a liquid oxygen tank of the rocket Atlas Vpresupposed to launch, the capsule then noticed its departure postponed a number of instances after the invention of a small helium leak on one in all its twenty-eight thrusters.
A technical downside that proved harder to resolve than anticipated. So a lot in order that Boeing and NASA gave up on plugging the leak, believing that it didn’t current a threat. “We can manage this leak, even if the rate were to be 100 times greater,” declared Steve Stich, senior official of the American area company, specifying that different vessels had already flown in comparable situations.
An important check
For Boeing, the stakes of this remaining check are essential since its ship Starliner is already 4 years behind its direct competitor, the capsule Crew Dragon from SpaceX, which already repeatedly serves the ISS. In addition, not solely has the group already collected disappointments on this mission entrusted by the American area company – trajectory error in 2019, valve downside in 2021, issue regarding the parachute permitting the return to Earth in 2022-2023 –, however it has additionally been going through a collection of worrying incidents on its airliners for a number of months. A failure would subsequently be an actual disaster for the plane producer.
For NASA, which ordered this automobile ten years in the past now, the problem can also be essential: within the present geopolitical context, having a second operational automobile to move its astronauts and people of its allies to the The ISS can be removed from being a luxurious.
Although the groups that attain the area station orbiting at a mean altitude of 400 kilometers above Earth have to date had a most of 4 members, the Starliner from Boeing, with its 4.6 meters in diameter for a pressurized quantity of 12 cubic meters, can carry as much as seven folks. And it's designed to be reusable as much as ten instances.
If this newest check goes effectively, the American area company plans to alternate flights between SpaceX and Boeing. The official operation of the system can subsequently lastly start. However, if the International Space Station had been to be deserted in 2030, the profession of the Starliner might be short-lived. To prolong it, Boeing will then need to handle to persuade new non-public gamers who plan to function their very own station in Earth orbit within the years to return.
https://www.lepoint.fr/astronomie/nouvelle-tentative-de-premier-vol-spatial-habite-pour-le-vaisseau-starliner-de-boeing-01-06-2024-2561732_1925.php