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Mahesh

07/05/24 06:02 AM IST

Boeing’s Starliner

In News
  • Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, carrying two NASA astronauts, will be launched by an Atlas V rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, to the International Space Station.
Boeing 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.
Mission objective
  • 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.
  • It took more than 80 fixes for Starliner to make its first successful uncrewed flight. Even after achieving the goal, there were concerns about the performance of some thrusters and the spacecraft’s cooling system.
  • Additional problems were found subsequently — there were issues with the safety of wiring and parachutes.
  • As a result, Boeing delayed the launch of Starliner’s first crewed flight from 2023 to where we are today.
Significance
  • The mission’s success is crucial for both NASA and Boeing. Currently, NASA has only one private company, SpaceX, which can take its astronauts and cargo to the ISS.
  • Starliner getting approval for conducting routine flights to and from the ISS would give NASA a backup and option to not depend on one company or vehicle for space launches.
  • The company has been working on the spacecraft for so long, they have had a few problems with the test flights and there’s a lot riding on this.
  • If Starliner completes its objectives, it will also help Boeing challenge SpaceX’s dominance in the commercial space industry.
Source- Indian Express

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