Engineers at NASA and Boeing continue troubleshooting the new Starliner space capsule that’s docked to the International Space Station. One issue that appears unresolved is the possible impact on jobs here in Alabama. Starliner was boosted to orbit by a rocket built in Decatur. Boeing is still hinting at layoffs in Huntsville due to slowdowns with NASA’s Artemis Moon rocket. As far as Starliner is concerned, astronaut Barry Wilmore says even with faulty jet thrusters, the capsule docked perfectly to the Space Station…
“Knowing what we know now and not knowing what we know, not knowing it then, but what we know now, truly impressive, that even in the with degraded thrusters, the capability was there to actually dock that precise,” said Wilmore.
The astronauts are filling the extra time in orbit with extra jobs related to the Starliner. That includes Wilmore, his crewmate Sunita Williams and two astronauts aboard the space station doing a fit check so four people could stay comfortably and safely inside the new capsule. NASA engineers also indicated they wanted to install a shelf on Starliner hold emergency equipment. The vehicle has been dogged by ongoing helium leaks and problems with jet thrusters that are either overheating during use or were shut down prior to docking. Astronaut Williams says it happens during the first trip on a new spacecraft.
“I’ll reiterate again, this is a test flight we were expecting to find some things, and so we are finding stuff and we're correcting it and making changes, making updates with our control team," said Williams. Every day, we had conferences to go over things that we found or we thought about, or we might add for the next flight.”
No firm date has been set the Starliner’s landing back on Earth. The troublesome jet thrusters will be needed to send the capsule into the atmosphere for the fiery trip down, which is supposed to end with parachutes and airbags cushioning the touchdown. NASA says another reason or extra tests in orbit is that a compartment attached to Starliner, called the Service Module, contains some of the faulty jets. The Service Module will separate from the crew capsule, and then burn up in the atmosphere while astronauts head home in the main craft.
