NASA mulls next steps for Boeing’s astronaut taxi
Words by Mike Wall
On 20 December 2019, Starliner launched on an uncrewed mission designed to demonstrate the capsule’s ability to fly NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS).
The test was supposed to last eight days and feature an autonomous docking with the station. But
Starliner suffered a glitch with its onboard timing system shortly after liftoff and got stranded in an orbit too low to allow a rendezvous with the ISS. The reusable capsule ended up zooming around Earth by itself for 48 hours, then coming down for a picture-perfect landing in New Mexico’s White
Sands Missile Range on 22 December.
“NASA is evaluating the data received during the mission to determine if another uncrewed demonstration is required. This decision is not expected for several weeks as teams take the necessary time for this review,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote in a statement.
Bridenstine also announced that NASA and Boeing are forming a joint team to investigate Starliner’s timing anomaly and figure out how to make sure it doesn’t happen again.