NASA and Boeing Prepare for Uncrewed Starliner Return Mission

Written by Copernical Team Friday, 30 August 2024 16:42

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Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2024

NASA and Boeing teams have completed a comprehensive Delta-Flight Test Readiness Review, giving the green light for the uncrewed CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to undock from the International Space Station. The undocking is scheduled for no earlier than 6:04 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 6, depending on weather and operational readiness. Once Starliner undocks, it will take approximately six ho

NASA and Boeing Prepare for Uncrewed Starliner Return Mission
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2024

NASA and Boeing teams have completed a comprehensive Delta-Flight Test Readiness Review, giving the green light for the uncrewed CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to undock from the International Space Station. The undocking is scheduled for no earlier than 6:04 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 6, depending on weather and operational readiness.

Once Starliner undocks, it will take approximately six hours to reach its designated landing site at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The spacecraft is expected to land around 12:03 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, using parachutes and inflated airbags to soften the impact. Recovery teams at White Sands will secure the spacecraft and prepare it for transport back to Boeing's Starliner factory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This mission follows NASA's decision on Aug. 24 to conduct the Starliner return without a crew. In preparation, mission managers and flight controllers have updated the spacecraft's systems with mission-specific data, ensuring that Starliner can perform a fully autonomous return. The spacecraft will be monitored and controlled remotely from Starliner Mission Control in Houston and Boeing Mission Control Center in Florida, with teams on standby to intervene if necessary during undocking, re-entry, and landing procedures.

Starliner has previously demonstrated its capability with successful uncrewed entries and landings during two orbital flight tests, including an autonomous undocking from the station.

In June, as part of NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams traveled to the station aboard Starliner. They will remain on the International Space Station as members of the Expedition 71/72 crew until February 2025, when they are scheduled to return with the agency's Crew-9 mission.