Boeing's Starliner Arrives At The Space Station

Keneci Channel

After chasing down the International Space Station(ISS) Thursday, the Starliner(Crew Space Transportation, CST-100) spacecraft began executing rendezvous test maneuvers just after 1930 UTC Friday. It successfully demonstrated its ability to stop on command as well as retreat away from station in case of emergency.

Following the success of the tests, Boeing flight operators instructed the uncrewed CST-100 to begin docking procedures, and the spacecraft started its slow progression toward the station's Harmony module, finally docking at 0028 UTC on May 21. NASA astronaut Robert Hines -- member of the crew aboard the station -- opened the Starliner's hatch at 1604 UTC.

Hines -- along with NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, and Jessica Watkins as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Korsakov, Space Station Commander, Oleg Artemyev, and Denis Matveev -- provided welcoming remarks during an in-flight event Saturday.

Here are 'point-of-view' pictures of the Starliner's approach to the space station, tweeted by Cristoforetti:

Starliner will remain at the station to complete a series of test objectives before departing the complex on May 25 where it will land at White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico.

Over the next few days, crewmembers aboard the station will empty Starliner of  500 pounds (226 kilograms) of supplies and provisions, then pack its hull with nearly 600 pounds (270 kg) of cargo marked for return to Earth. Staying on board Starliner will be Boeing's zero-gravity test dummy, affectionately dubbed Rosie the Rocketeer, after Rosie the Riveter of World War II-era fame. Clad in one of Boeing's blue spacesuits, Rosie will stay strapped into Starliner's command seat for the ride back to Earth.

CST-100 launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 2254 UTC on Thursday, May 19 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

This is Starliner's second Orbital Flight Test(OFT-2). It failed to reach the ISS during OFT-1 in December 2019 due to software glitches, and then had its second attempt scrubbed hours before liftoff in August 2021 of after the mission team discovered stuck valves in the capsule's propulsion system.

There were some minor thruster and cooling system glitches shortly after Thursday's launch, and a slight delay during docking.

However the thruster malfunctions don't appear to be related to the previous issues the vehicle has experienced. And at a post-launch press briefing Thursday night, NASA and Boeing representatives were confident Starliner would complete its mission, regardless of the thruster problems.

"Those are the kinds of things we expect in flight test and that is why we  test," Hines said Saturday. "If we didn't find something like that we're probably doing something wrong."

When certified Starliner will join the current heavy hitters -- SpaceX Dragon and Russia's Soyuz -- in the commercial crewed space flight industry.

WATCH Starliner's hatch opening