Boeing ’s aborted Starliner capsule test flight to the International Space Station ( ISS ) this weekend was a wild drive . Having successfully launch on a roquette from Cape Canaveral on Friday , just 30 minutes into the flight it begin to go wrong , ultimately neglect to bob with the ISS and officials abort the missionary post . However , on Sunday it land safely back on Earth in a historic landing , becoming thefirst work party abridgment to ever touch down on US filth .
One of the unlooked-for casualties of this aborted missionary station , however , is that that the spacecraft , loaded up with Christmas present for the six cosmonaut and cosmonaut spending the holiday period aboard the ISS , failed to render its precious shipment . Yes , our space travelers will be present - liberal this Christmas .
After thanking NASA for its documentation during the tense two - twenty-four hour period efforts to land the spacecraft safely home , Boeing ’s senior vice president of Space and Launch Jim Chilton added in apress conference Sundaythat he ’d " wish to express Boeing ’s rue to the ISS work party to whom we did not bring the Christmas nowadays . Not coolheaded . "
Despite the failed tying up , the safe restoration of the capsule has beenhailed a success , and NASA has declared there is a muckle of in effect data point we can take from this .
Boeing ’s CST-100 Starliner , along with SpaceX ’s Dragon , is part of NASA’sCommerical Crew Program , recyclable ballistic capsule the US hopes will interchange Russia ’s Soyuz spacecraft – currently the only way to transport astronaut to and from the ISS .
Designed to take up four astronauts , Friday ’s launching was Starliner ’s first uncrewed Orbital Flight Test . Onboard , alongside the ill - fate Christmas presents , were collapse test dummyRosie – named after Rosie the Riveter , the iconic kettle suit - and - bandanna - wearing star topology of the WWII drive to enroll women workers for the defense reaction industries – and Snoopy .
It became apparent something had gone wrong not long after the launching on Friday , December 20 . Barely half an hour into the trajectory , the abridgement failed to fire its thrusters , which would have set its course of study for the ISS , and terminate up in the wrong electron orbit . It then burn off so much fuel to correct its way of life , it did n’t have enough left to make its ISS dock rendezvous and thedecision was madeto abort the effort .
The capsule then expend nearly 50 time of day in a lower unchanging celestial orbit so they could stay on to post out some of the missionary post ’s other objectives before returning safely to Earth , admit quiz the sensors attached to Rosie that help prove Starliner will be safe for next human crews .
harmonise to Boeing , the spacecraft experienced a “ timing unusual person , ” which demand an improperly rig clock that caused the ejector seat to be around 11 hours off , derail to a posterior level of its mission , releasing and burning too much fuel .
Having made the decision to abort docking with the space station , the blank government agency concentrated on call for as much data as potential before returning to Earth on Sunday December 22 , in what turned out to be a spectacularly successfulsoft landingin the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico .
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called it an “ out-and-out bullseye ” landing , while astronaut Sunita “ Suni ” Williams , who will command the next mission using the space vehicle , called it“picture perfect ” . As commander , Williams also got to announce the name of the capsule , as decided by the crew . It went to space known as the Starliner ejector seat , and returnedCalypso , after Jacque Cousteau ’s ship .
As for Christmas aboard the ISS , the astronaut and astronaut may not have the present tense and holiday treats they were expecting , but you’re able to still give them a moving ridge as theywhizz by seeable in the skyon Christmas Eve and Christmas Day , so they know they ’re not forgotten .
