This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. The next opportunity for launch is expected to be at 1:20 p.m. The weather for a Friday launch was also iffy at 50-50. The delay gives NASA and Roscosmos additional time to ensure the thruster issues doesn’t occur again. It was slated to dock with the forward port of the Harmony module on Saturday. This issue has also prompted NASA to call off tomorrows (July 30) launch of the Orbital Flight Test-2 Starliner mission. Ground teams are expected to continue troubleshooting the issue while the ISS crew works to verify nothing was damaged during the incident. It occurred while the thrusters were being integrated into the software and computer logic with the Zvezda service module. However, it was expected to send commands to the module to disable its thrusters during the next Russian ground pass at about 2 p.m. Roscosmos is not sure why Nauka’s thruster began firing. EDT (17:30 UTC), NASA confirmed that attitude had returned to normal and Nauka was no longer firing. Credit: Derek Richardson / Spaceflight Insider / Orbital VelocityĪt 1:30 p.m. Also annotated are the locations of the three visiting spacecraft currently at ISS: Progress MS-17, Soyuz MS-18 and Crew-2 Dragon. Previously the only other option for reaching the orbital laboratory was by hitching rides aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft.The location of the Nauka module on the International Space Station. Since resuming crewed flights to orbit from American soil in 2020, nine years after the space shuttle program ended, the US space agency has had to rely solely on the Falcon 9 rockets and Crew Dragon capsules from Elon Musk’s company SpaceX to fly Nasa astronauts. The orbital platform is currently occupied by a crew of three Nasa astronauts, a European Space Agency astronaut from Italy and three Russian cosmonauts. If all goes well with the current mission, Starliner could fly its first team of astronauts to the space station as early as the fall.įor now, the only passenger was a research dummy, whimsically named Rosie the Rocketeer and dressed in a blue flight suit, strapped into the commander’s seat and collecting data on crew cabin conditions during the journey, plus 800 pounds (363kg) of cargo to deliver to the space station. The Starliner program alone has cost nearly $600m in engineering setbacks since the 2019 mishap. The capsule is scheduled to depart the space station on Wednesday for a return flight to Earth, ending with an airbag-softened parachute landing in the New Mexico desert.Ī success is seen as pivotal to Boeing as the Chicago-based company scrambles to climb out of successive crises in its jetliner business and its space defence unit. Starliner remained grounded for nine more months while the two companies sparred over what caused fuel valves to stick shut and which firm was responsible for fixing them, as Reuters reported last week. Subsequent problems with Starliner’s propulsion system, supplied by Aerojet Rocketdyne, led Boeing to scrub a second attempt to launch the capsule last summer. Much was riding on the outcome, after an ill-fated first test flight in late 2019 nearly ended with the vehicle’s loss following a software glitch that effectively foiled the spacecraft’s ability to reach the space station. A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule has been docked to the space station since delivering four astronauts to ISS in late April. It marked the first time spacecraft from both of Nasa’s Commercial Crew Program partners were physically attached to the space station at the same time. Docking with ISS took place at 8.28pm EDT (00.28 GMT Saturday) as the two vehicles flew 271 miles (436km) over the south Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia, according to commentators on a live Nasa webcast of the linkup.
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