Indian origin Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore on the way to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, demonstrated the unique manual piloting capabilities of the spacecraft.
On Wednesday, Williams and Wilmore scripted history as the first crew aboard Boeing’s Starliner for a 25-hour mission to the International Space Station. This is the third space journey that Williams has gone out for. Williams, who is 58 years old, has been assigned the duty of pilot for the test flight whereas Wilmore, 61, is the mission commander.
Following Test conducted on the aircraft:
Both astronauts spent two hours testing the manual controls, however the Starliner functions autonomously. They directed the spacecraft by applying various techniques during free-flight demonstrations by using the hand controller.
While conducting a far-field demonstration, they guided the Starliner’s nose heading toward Earth, ensuring the communication antenna on the Service Module was aligned with the Data Relay Satellites and the tracking. Next, they positioned the aircraft in such a direction that its solar array faced the sun. This way, the spacecraft can charge the internal batteries if there is a need, according to the statement released by Boeing.
For observing stars, they pointed the Starliner’s nose away from the Earth, demonstrating the spacecraft’s ability to use the star trackers for altitude determination. This step can be taken if in any case, all three flight computers get deactivated or fail to function.
The crew also demonstrated that they can manually adjust the orbit by increasing and reducing the aircraft speed if required. In the final demonstration, they directed the Starliner to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and showcased the aircraft’s skills of charging the batteries by positioning the solar array in the direction of the Sun.
Why is this mission crucial for Boeing?
This mission holds utmost importance for Boeing as recently the firm has been in the news for its aircraft technical problems which resulted in delaying its crew debut by almost 10 years. Whereas, its counterpart SpaceX completed its crew flight test in the year 2020.
(With PTI inputs)