The Boeing Starliner capsule was developed to be as good as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and to be a backup for NASA’s two-provider system to carry astronauts into space. The idea was simple: if one vehicle had a problem, the other could ensure that space access from the United States would not be interrupted. However, the story that started as the realization of reliable duplication quickly became NASA’s tales of setbacks, narrow escapes, and learning that space is still unforgiving even in the modern era.
The route of the Starliner on this flight was far from a smooth ride. The development of the spacecraft had to be delayed several times due, test failure and unexpected technical problems. Every launch attempt was met with a feeling of anxiety and doubt. When the capsule was finally released and grabbed a hand of the International Space Station, the relief was combined with worry – engineers had already found a helium leak before docking. It was a sign that there might be more trouble waiting to unfold as the spacecraft reached space.
That worry turned out to be true as several of the reaction control thrusters in Starliner began to malfunction on the approach to the station. Of 28, five stopped operating at one time, leading to panic among the ground teams. They managed to get four of them back into operation, but one remained off throughout the mission. A vehicle that is uncertain about being next to astronauts in space vacuum is difficult to ignore. It raised the question of how these maneuvers, the docking, re-entry, and landing, that the spacecraft need to be done safely.
The issues, however, did not stop at this point. While Starliner was still in space, new helium leaks showed up, and the source of the leaks was the thruster compartments, which the astronauts called “doghouses.” The repeated firing of the thrusters heated the Teflon seals, and they have changed shape. The fuel flow is restricted, and more of the propulsion system is under strain. The engineers think that the fuel vapors have been slowly eating away at the seals for the whole time. These problems, even though they are not of a catastrophic nature, still make the mission dangerous due to the added complexity.
After the capsule managed to dock safely with the station, NASA was faced with an awkward decision. Starliner could technically be a rescue vehicle if something happened on the ISS, but the agency was not willing to take the risk of a normal crewed return under such uncertain conditions. The problem was that the service module, the place where the most trouble originated, would be on fire during re-entry, making it impossible to see and diagnose afterward. In the end, NASA decided to be safe rather than sorry. They made a decision for the spacecraft to be empty when coming back to Earth so that the engineers could concentrate on figuring out what went wrong, and that the crew would be safe.
Starliner did a very good job when it left alone. It detached from the ISS, did its deorbit burn, and went through a very hot re-entry, but it survived. The parachutes were opened as planned, and the airbags that were for the landing in the New Mexico desert took the impact gently. Although the uncrewed re-entry allowed NASA and Boeing to collect a lot of useful data regarding the heat shield of the capsule, the parachute systems, and the flight profile, most of the questions about the issues of the service module had already gone up in flames when the latter combusted in the atmosphere.
As it turned out, the visit of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the space station was extended far beyond what had been planned. What was supposed to be a short visit turned out to be a stay of several months, probably up to eight months. NASA reassured the public that they were not in any danger, and there was also a lot of food and other things on the ISS to support them. If a real emergency had occurred, they would have been able to use the Starliner to come back, but since NASA’s confidence was affected, they prepared to bring them back on a SpaceX Crew Dragon instead. The situation was not very good, but the two astronauts decided to continue working in orbit – they helped with experiments and gave valuable feedback, which was instrumental in the Starliner program.
The consequences for Boeing and NASA are huge. The importance of this mission is very significant for Boeing, as it shows the big challenge of a human-rated spacecraft getting certified and becoming completely reliable. The company has already invested more than $1.5 billion of its own money in the development of Starliner, which is beyond the NASA contract, and this series of incidents has delayed the timeline even further.
For NASA, it was a call to explain why it is important to have more than one option for spacecraft. The agency’s decision to keep redundancy, even though it was expensive, paid off once again. It is with the help of Crew Dragon that astronauts were able to return to the Earth, making NASA a winner of safety, reliability, and prioritizing over convenience and the timetable.
At present, both NASA and Boeing are deeply involved in the work of identifying the problems during Starliner’s flight. Some teams are reevaluating the thermal design, some are working on upgrading the thruster system, and some are on the lookout for new materials that are able to resist space conditions without deteriorating. Until those repairs are carried out and the spacecraft is checked thoroughly, it won’t be allowed to fly again.
Starliner may never come back, but its journey is not over yet. Progress is always a step that comes after failure in spaceflight, and the takeaways from this mission will not only affect the changes in Boeing’s spacecraft but will also set the tone for human spaceflight in the years to come. The Starliner’s troubled journey is one of those moments where mankind is reminded that space travel has never been a walk in the park, and the number of errors that can be made is very few when human lives are at stake.