The long-awaited first crewed test flight of Boeing’s new Starliner space capsule was called off on Tuesday over a technical issue. The postponement, attributed to an issue with a valve in the rocket’s second stage, was announced during a live NASA webcast.
Sunita Williams’ 3rd Space Flight Aborted
Why In News
- The long-awaited first crewed test flight of Boeing’s new Starliner space capsule was called off on Tuesday over a technical issue. The postponement, attributed to an issue with a valve in the rocket’s second stage, was announced during a live NASA webcast.
- The Boeing Starliner was set to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida’s Cape Canaveral at 8.04 am India time.
- “NASA, Boeing, and United Launch Alliance scrubbed the launch opportunity on Monday, May 6 for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station due to a faulty oxygen relief valve observation on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Centaur second stage,” the space agency said in a statement.
- The two-member crew – NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore, 61, and Sunita Williams, 58 – were strapped into their seats aboard the spacecraft about an hour before launch activities were suspended.
Sunita Williams
- This would have been the third space travel for the Indian-origin astronaut, who has already spent 322 days in space and held a record for the maximum hours of spacewalk by a woman, before being overtaken by Peggy Whitson.
- This time, she would have made history as the first woman to fly on a maiden crewed mission of a new space shuttle.
- Ms Williams went on her first space voyage on December 9, 2006, which lasted till June 22, 2007. While onboard, she established a world record for women by going on four spacewalks that added up to 29 hours and 17 minutes.
What Is Boeing’s Starliner
- Starliner is a partially reusable crew capsule, officially known as CST-100 (crew space transportation). The capsule, which is 5 m tall and 4.6 m wide, consists of two modules.
- One is the crew module, which can accommodate seven astronauts — although, for trips to the ISS, it will be modified for four astronauts and cargo. The crew module can be reused up to 10 times, with a six-month turnaround.
- The other is the service module — the powerhouse of the spacecraft — which supplies electricity, propulsion, thermal control, air, and water in space. This module is expandable.
What Is The Mission
- The main objective of the mission is to see how Starliner performs in space with a crew onboard. It is supposed to dock with the ISS — a day after the launch — for around 10 days before it returns to the Earth.
- During the return journey, NASA and Boeing will be keeping an eye on the spacecraft’s heat shield and parachutes. They will slow the descent before airbags open to soften the moment of impact with the ground — unlike other crew capsules, Starliner will land on the ground and not in the sea.
