CST-100 Starliner, the Boeing spacecraft, has successfully docked at the International Space Station (ISS) on May 20 as part of the company Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), according to The Verge. Starliner was made to transport NASA astronauts to and back from space and this is the first time it has demonstrated the capability to successfully dock at the space station after the failed first attempt with OFT.
Before any astronauts could actually go aboard Starliner, NASA wanted Boeing to demonstrate that its spaceship is able to successfully dock with ISS in the first place. But during Boeing’s first attempt with OFT in 2019, the launch went according to plan, but software glitches prevented the capsule from getting into the right orbit that was necessary for it to dock with ISS. This forced the company to abort the mission and bring back the vehicle.
Its second successful attempt at docking with OFT-2 is an important milestone for the company that has now demonstrated that its spaceship can both launch successfully aboard the Atlas V rocket (built by the United Launch Alliance between Boeing and Lockheed Martin) and dock with the space station. The next big step for the company would involve taking actual astronauts into orbit with the spaceship.
“Boeing Starliner spacecraft completes its historic first docking to the International Space Station opening a new avenue of access for crews to the orbiting laboratory,” Steve Siceloff, a communications representative for Boeing, said during the livestream of the docking, according to The Verge.
However, the launch and docking were not completely seamless. Once Starliner separated from Atlas V, two of the 12 thrusters Starliner uses for docking failed and cut off too early. Thankfully, the spaceship’s flight control system kicked in and made correcting adjustments by rerouting to a working thruster. This meant that the Starliner was able to get into a stable orbit.
After staying docked to the ISS for a few days, Starliner will detach from the space station and use its thrusters to take itself out of the orbit. Even during this process, the flight management system will be able to make up for the shortage of two thrusters. Due to the redundancies built into the spaceship, the working thrusters are enough for the Starliner to make its way back to Earth.
