* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Friday, October 17, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in Crop Top – Yahoo

    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in a Chic Crop Top

    Bricktown continues to thrive as OKC’s entertainment district – OKC VeloCity

    Bricktown Shines as Oklahoma City’s Premier Entertainment Hotspot

    This Haunting ‘60s Country Song Is Even More Tragic Than You Remember – Yahoo

    This Haunting ’60s Country Song Will Break Your Heart All Over Again

    Arts/Entertainment: ‘Wait Until Dark’ brings spooky season center stage – Times Herald Online

    Wait Until Dark’ Delivers Chilling Thrills Perfect for the Spooky Season

    Bluesman James Montgomery Will Perform In Falmouth – CapeNews.net

    Blues Legend James Montgomery Ready to Ignite the Stage in Falmouth

    Mexican singer Pedro Fernández to make Ave Fénix tour stop in Stockton. Tickets, schedule – Yahoo

    Mexican Singer Pedro Fernández Brings the Ave Fénix Tour to Stockton – Don’t Miss It!

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Spanning the Gulf: Global Defence Technology 155 – Army Technology

    Spanning the Gulf: Exploring Cutting-Edge Global Defence Technology

    A Nobel Prize for explaining when technology leads to growth – NPR

    Nobel Prize Awarded for Unraveling How Technology Drives Economic Growth

    Erie Canal’s 200th anniversary: How a technological marvel for trade changed the environment forever – The Conversation

    Erie Canal’s 200th Anniversary: How a Trade Marvel Transformed the Environment Forever

    Day 5 of Gains Streak for Solidion Technology Stock with 475% Return (vs. -20% YTD) [10/14/2025] – Trefis

    Solidion Technology Stock Rockets for 5th Consecutive Day, Soaring an Astonishing 475% Year-to-Date

    Tracking DNA and RNA Together To Unlock Disease Insights – Technology Networks

    Unlocking Disease Insights by Tracking DNA and RNA Together

    The future of battery technology – Engineer Live

    Revolutionizing Energy: Exploring the Future of Battery Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in Crop Top – Yahoo

    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in a Chic Crop Top

    Bricktown continues to thrive as OKC’s entertainment district – OKC VeloCity

    Bricktown Shines as Oklahoma City’s Premier Entertainment Hotspot

    This Haunting ‘60s Country Song Is Even More Tragic Than You Remember – Yahoo

    This Haunting ’60s Country Song Will Break Your Heart All Over Again

    Arts/Entertainment: ‘Wait Until Dark’ brings spooky season center stage – Times Herald Online

    Wait Until Dark’ Delivers Chilling Thrills Perfect for the Spooky Season

    Bluesman James Montgomery Will Perform In Falmouth – CapeNews.net

    Blues Legend James Montgomery Ready to Ignite the Stage in Falmouth

    Mexican singer Pedro Fernández to make Ave Fénix tour stop in Stockton. Tickets, schedule – Yahoo

    Mexican Singer Pedro Fernández Brings the Ave Fénix Tour to Stockton – Don’t Miss It!

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Spanning the Gulf: Global Defence Technology 155 – Army Technology

    Spanning the Gulf: Exploring Cutting-Edge Global Defence Technology

    A Nobel Prize for explaining when technology leads to growth – NPR

    Nobel Prize Awarded for Unraveling How Technology Drives Economic Growth

    Erie Canal’s 200th anniversary: How a technological marvel for trade changed the environment forever – The Conversation

    Erie Canal’s 200th Anniversary: How a Trade Marvel Transformed the Environment Forever

    Day 5 of Gains Streak for Solidion Technology Stock with 475% Return (vs. -20% YTD) [10/14/2025] – Trefis

    Solidion Technology Stock Rockets for 5th Consecutive Day, Soaring an Astonishing 475% Year-to-Date

    Tracking DNA and RNA Together To Unlock Disease Insights – Technology Networks

    Unlocking Disease Insights by Tracking DNA and RNA Together

    The future of battery technology – Engineer Live

    Revolutionizing Energy: Exploring the Future of Battery Technology

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Make-or-break tests on tap for Boeing’s Starliner capsule

July 26, 2024
in Science
Make-or-break tests on tap for Boeing’s Starliner capsule
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Boeing’s Starliner, docked at the International Space Station, pictured in a long-duration exposure as the craft soared 258 miles above western China. Image: NASA.

Critical tests are on tap this weekend to confirm Boeing’s Starliner capsule can safety carry its two-person crew back to Earth despite unexpected helium leaks and degraded maneuvering thrusters, officials said Thursday.

The problems, discovered during the ship’s rendezvous with the International Space Station in early June, triggered weeks of testing and analysis that have extended the ship’s first piloted test flight from a little more than one week to nearly two months.

Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said Starliner commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams, both veterans of earlier space station visits, have taken the extended mission in stride and are enjoying their bonus time in orbit.

As for when they might be cleared to return to Earth, Stich told reporters “we don’t have a major announcement today relative to a return date. We’re making great progress, but we’re just not quite ready to do that.”

Two technical hurdles remain: tests this weekend to “hot fire” 27 maneuvering thrusters in the Starliner’s service module to make sure they will work as expected between undocking and re-entry; and parallel testing to confirm five known helium leaks in the propulsion pressurization system have not worsened.

Pressurized helium is used to force propellants to the thrusters for ignition. The thrusters, in turn, are needed to re-orient the Starliner as required after undocking and to keep it steady when larger rockets fire to drop the ship out of orbit for re-entry and landing.

“We’re going to fire all those thrusters through a number of pulses, just to make sure before we undock, that the whole system performs the way we expected and the way it did last time we checked it,” Stich said. “We’ll also get a chance to look at the helium system.

“It’s been six weeks since we last checked that helium system, that was on June 15. So we’ll pressurize manifold by manifold, and then hot fire the thrusters, and then we’ll get a chance to look at the helium leak rates and verify that the system is stable.”

All in all, “it’s a very important set of tests over the weekend that we’ll do,” he said.

Assuming no major surprises crop up, a NASA flight readiness review will be held to outline the problems for senior management, along with the “flight rationale,” that is, the analysis showing the problems are understood and pose no credible safety threat.

“There’s some significant education of the leadership heading into this agency flight readiness review,” Stich said. “We’ve struggled to explain all of what’s going on, and I apologize for that. This is a very, very complicated subject.”

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Image: NASA.

The Starliner was launched on its first piloted test flight June 5. During the subsequent rendezvous with the International Space Station, multiple helium leaks were detected — one was known before launch — and five aft-facing maneuvering thrusters failed to operate as the flight software expected.

Four were later successfully test fired and one was declared failed.

The aft-facing thrusters were exposed to direct sunlight for extended periods, causing them to operate at higher than normal temperatures. That, plus the rapid-fire sequence of burns during the rendezvous, likely contributed to the observed performance.

To find out, Boeing took a flight thruster from another Starliner to a NASA test facility in White Sands, New Mexico, and ran it through two rendezvous sequences that replicated what the Starliner in orbit experienced along with five return-to-Earth, or “downhill,” scenarios.

Similar thrust degradation was seen and when engineers disassembled the test thruster, a Teflon seal was found to be slightly deformed, likely due to exposure to one of the propellants, nitrogen tetroxide.

“The team is … looking at that thruster to see could that particular seal survive the rest of the flight,” Stich said. “If you look at what we did on that thruster, it shows that we can survive up to five downhill legs. So we’re making sure that that seal stays intact.”

As for the helium leaks, Stich said flight controllers pressurized the system for earlier tests in orbit and the known leaks did not get any worse; all were within acceptable limits.

“We’re going to do a check this weekend on the helium leak scenario, and then right before undock, we’ll re-pressurize the system and check the helium leaks. … We’re making sure all that’s covered.”

When the Starliner took off, its batteries were rated for 45 days in space. Based on their actual performance in orbit, Stich said that limit has been extended to 90 days. Thursday marked the ship’s 50th day in space and Stich said Wilmore and Williams possibly could return to Earth by late August.

“I’m very confident we have a good vehicle to bring the crew back with,” said Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Starliner program manager. “We have to take the next steps to show that information to everybody else, and that leads up to the agency review, and that’s what we’re going to do over the next week.”

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Spaceflight Now – https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/07/26/make-or-break-tests-on-tap-for-boeings-starliner-capsule/

Tags: Make-or-breakscienceTests
Previous Post

As it happened: NASA, Boeing provide update on the Starliner Crew Flight Test mission

Next Post

New method could make green hydrogen production feasible

How People Around the World View AI – Pew Research Center

How People Around the World Really Feel About AI: Surprising Insights Revealed

October 17, 2025
75% of Americans report soaring prices as Trump claims inflation ‘over’ – The Guardian

75% of Americans Struggle with Soaring Prices Despite Trump’s Claim That Inflation Is ‘Over

October 17, 2025
Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in Crop Top – Yahoo

Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in a Chic Crop Top

October 17, 2025
Takeaways from the first general election debate in the NYC mayoral race – CNN

Takeaways from the first general election debate in the NYC mayoral race – CNN

October 17, 2025
Shattered concrete, dirty water and asbestos: Israeli bombing causes ‘unparalleled’ ecological crisis in Gaza – TBIJ

Devastating Israeli Bombing Triggers Unprecedented Ecological Crisis in Gaza

October 17, 2025

Celebrating 15 Years of Family Fun and Discovery at the Wisconsin Science Festival

October 17, 2025
Why are humans religious? Scientists are studying miracles to find out. – National Geographic

Why Do Humans Believe in Miracles? Scientists Explore the Mystery of Religion

October 17, 2025
Man Missing His Dog While at the Club Is Far Too Relatable – Yahoo

Man Missing His Dog While at the Club Is Far Too Relatable – Yahoo

October 17, 2025
Spanning the Gulf: Global Defence Technology 155 – Army Technology

Spanning the Gulf: Exploring Cutting-Edge Global Defence Technology

October 17, 2025
Ohio State vs. Wisconsin prediction, pick, odds, spread, where to watch live – CBS Sports

Ohio State vs. Wisconsin prediction, pick, odds, spread, where to watch live – CBS Sports

October 16, 2025

Categories

Archives

October 2025
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Sep    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (871)
  • Economy (893)
  • Entertainment (21,765)
  • General (17,641)
  • Health (9,934)
  • Lifestyle (905)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (893)
  • Politics (903)
  • Science (16,103)
  • Sports (21,392)
  • Technology (15,872)
  • World (876)

Recent News

How People Around the World View AI – Pew Research Center

How People Around the World Really Feel About AI: Surprising Insights Revealed

October 17, 2025
75% of Americans report soaring prices as Trump claims inflation ‘over’ – The Guardian

75% of Americans Struggle with Soaring Prices Despite Trump’s Claim That Inflation Is ‘Over

October 17, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version