After an accident with the thrusters, the ISS briefly became unbalanced. NASA does not yet dare to launch the Starliner spacecraft.
Today it should have happened: the launch of Boeing’s Starliner. After the ‘failed’ previous test flight, the spacecraft should prove itself in the rematch. However, the test flight has now been unexpectedly postponed. This was due to an accident with the Russian Nauka module at the ISS.
Nauka-module
Of Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), also called Nauka (the Russian word for science) was recently added to the International Space Station. The MLM is linked to the Zarja module and will be used for experiments, cargo storage and docking of other spacecraft. The MLM will be the primary research module for the Russians, funded by the Russian space agency Roskosmos.
Illustration of the ISS with the docked modules and spacecraft. Image: NASA
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Something went wrong during the docking of the Russian module to the ISS. After docking of the module, the thrusters were unintentionally and unexpectedly ignited. As a result, the Russian module inadvertently pushed the ISS, causing it to become unbalanced. In the meantime, the module has been successfully linked. Also, the position of the ISS is back under control and the movement of the space station is stable. “The crew has never been in danger,” NASA said.
Starliner
The incident does have consequences for the planned launch of Boeing’s Starliner. This (unmanned) spacecraft would take to the skies today and head for the ISS during its second test flight. The intent was for Starliner to dock with the space station and return about a week later to land in the western United States. This test flight is a rematch of a previous one, when there was Shortly after launch something suddenly went wrong; the space capsule failed to reach the desired orbit and returned to Earth without having visited the ISS.
More about Starliner’s rematch
After the ‘failed’ test flight, it was unclear for a while whether this flight – in which the vessel eventually returned to Earth safely – will lead to the postponement of the first manned flight of the Starliner. NASA initially hoped to deploy the Starliner sometime in the first quarter of 2020 to transport astronauts to the ISS. Ultimately, NASA and Boeing chose to retake the unmanned test flight before sending astronauts to the ISS. “We have chosen to rerun our test flight to demonstrate the quality of Starliner,” Boeing said in mid-2020. “With a second unmanned flight, we can complete all the objectives of the test flight and evaluate Starliner’s performance.”
Although the ISS has not suffered any damage as far as is known and everything is working properly, NASA does not dare to launch Starliner. And so the test flight is postponed. “This will give the Space Station team time to continue work on the newly arrived Nauka module,” they write. “That way we can ensure that the station is completely ready for the arrival of Starliner.”
This is not the first time that Starliner’s test flight has been delayed. For example, the entire mission was already delayed due to various factors. But there is certainly no adjustment from postponement. Moreover, the new launch date has already been set: Tuesday, August 3, the resit of the resit will follow.
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