Boeing planned to launch its first ever spacecraft this morning—but stalled once again due to a technical problem. The company has a lot riding on the Starliner—which has been plagued with delays since 2015. We look at why the Starliner matters—other than the fact that its maiden flight will be crewed by hamaari Sunita Williams.
Editor’s note: The Starliner launch was slated for 8 am IST (10:30 pm ET) this morning. It has been pushed back due to technical issues—which is really annoying since we already scheduled this as a big story for today. Happily for Boeing, this time the problem has little to do with Starliner. An oxygen relief valve on the rocket—the Atlas V—developed a glitch. It may well take off later this week—but it’s one more delay for a project that is already four years late.
Ooh a new rocket! Tell me more!
Say hello to the Starliner: It is officially called CST-100 (crew space transportation)—and has the same room as a decent-sized SUV. The craft is 5m tall and 4.6m wide (16.5ft by 15ft), when attached to its rear service module. It can accommodate up to seven astronauts—but it is set up for four crew members plus cargo.
It looks like this:
The selling point: It’s reusable. Each capsule can be flown up to 10 times. And it has a “weldless design”—so presumably there are no bolts that can go flying midair (sorry, that’s mean). And it can “fly, navigate and course-correct autonomously”—which ought to make Elon Musk jealous. He’s still trying to build self-drive cars. But his company SpaceX still has plenty to gloat about—his spacecraft actually leave the ground (more on that later).
The India angle: is Sunita Williams—who is Indian-American, but more importantly, a space superstar. She is slated to drive Starliner all the way to the International Space Station—along with Barry “Butch” Wilmore. Both are Navy and NASA veterans. Williams has been on two space missions and spent 322 days orbiting Earth. Her first flight was aboard the Discovery in 2006 to the ISS—where she set many records. She made four space walks, totaling more than 29 hours—and spent a total of more than 195 days in space. At the time, both were records for women in space.
Sunita things to see: This is a very cool ‘Top Gun’ style pic of 58-year old Williams and 61-year old Wilmore—getting ready for their Starliner gig.
We personally have a soft spot for this throwback pic of Williams and her co-astronaut William A. Oefelein on the Discovery:
Yes, yes, we know: We didn’t tell you much about Wilmore—who’s had a very distinguished career—that you can read all about him over here. Sorry, we’re shamelessly biased in this particular matter :)
So they’re going to fly to the ISS and back?
Yup, pretty much! The capsule is slated to lift off atop an Atlas V rocket from the iconic Cape Canaveral Station in Florida. It will reach the space station the next day—and spend a week there. What’s cool: When the Starliner returns, it won’t splash into the ocean like the other loser spacecraft—but touch down on land—at New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range.
Point to note: Atlas V is a veteran of many uncrewed space flights—but this will be its first voyage with humans aboard.
The historic bit: There have been crewed debut flights of a new spacecraft only five times in NASA history. As its chief Bill Nelson said:
So, you think of it: The first time [NASA astronauts] have flown on a new spacecraft started with Mercury, then with Gemini, then with Apollo, then space shuttle, then Dragon and now Starliner. So it is a historical day; it's a wonderful day.
For sentimental value, the flight will also mark the first time since the 1968 launch of Apollo 7 that a crewed mission will take off from Cape Canaveral.
What’s next: If all goes well with this test flight, the Starliner will launch its first six-month flight to the ISS in early 2025.
And that’s why it matters?
Well, it matters a lot to NASA—and arguably other space agencies. It also matters a hell of a lot to Boeing. Let’s start with NASA.
The upside for NASA: After the US space shuttle was retired in 2011, the agency was on the lookout for private contractors to transport its astronauts—to and from the ISS. It signed a contract with both SpaceX and Boeing. While Boeing was trying to get its act together, the agency was entirely reliant on one company. Now it’s not:
While NASA astronauts have for years been flying aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, the agency does not want to rely on a single company, said [aerospace expert] Makena Young… “Having that second option is really important because it adds redundancy and resiliency,” Young said. “In space systems, there are always redundancies, because if something goes wrong, you want to make sure that you have backups.”
Why it matters to the world: A SpaceX monopoly means higher prices for any space program—as the chief of UK’s agency points out: "That is really important not just for Nasa, but for other space agencies, such as the UK Space Agency, because we are spending the taxpayers' money getting our astronauts to the ISS and we want the best value for money.”
And it helps Boeing how?
Well, it would be nice for the company to show the world that it can make something that isn’t in the danger of falling apart—unlike its planes. It’s recent aviation history has been a horror show:
- In October, 2018, a Lion Air flight went down shortly after take-off from Jakarta— killing all 189 people on board. The aircraft was less than three months old.
- In March, 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi crashed within six minutes of takeoff, killing all 157 of its passengers and crew.
- Its 737 Max airliners were grounded for 20 months as a result–and only allowed back in the air in November 2020.
- It continued to experience glitches–until this January, when part of an Alaskan Airlines plane blew out mid-flight—leaving a massive hole in the hull. Yes, it was a 737 Max.
Since then, very little has happened to restore confidence. Aviation audits have been ugly, whistleblowing engineers have cried foul… As we said, Boeing really needs a win—especially with the Starliner—which is threatening to become another engineering fiasco.
What’s wrong with the Starliner?
‘Was wrong’ with the Starliner—it could be doing fine now 🤞🏽. The spacecraft has been mired in delays from the very start—since 2015:
Starliner was originally due to have its first uncrewed test flight in 2015 but this was delayed until 2019. When it did occur, software glitches led to an internal clock malfunction, resulting in thrusters over-firing. So much fuel was consumed that the capsule couldn't reach the space station.
Still a dud: Boeing struggled to recover from that setback—and failed once again in 2021. It had to scrub a launch of an uncrewed mission at the very last minute—due to “valve” issues. That’s after spending $410 million to fix its problems.
A bit of success: In November 2022, an uncrewed Starliner finally took off—without a problem—and docked with the space station. But a few thrusters failed—which wasn’t good, but not disastrous either.
Another step back: Boeing’s first crewed launch in 2023 had to be scrubbed as well:
Boeing then scrapped the planned launch of the Starliner's first crewed flight last year, after company officials realised that adhesive tape used on the craft to wrap hundreds of yards of wiring was flammable, and lines connecting the capsule to its three parachutes appeared to be weaker than expected. The launch was delayed indefinitely.
Yeah, you can see why everything had to go just right today. Over the years, the costs of overruns and delays have added up to $1.5 billion for Boeing—that is steep!
About that SpaceX rivalry: When NASA signed the two companies, the SpaceX contract was worth $2.6 billion while Boeing got $4.2 billion. Since then, Musk’s company has completed 340 launches and sent 50 astronauts into orbit. And it’s getting ready to launch Starship—“the world’s largest and most powerful rocket, intended to carry humans to Mars by the end of the next decade.” Boeing needs Starliner to work just to stay in the game—however modestly.
The bottomline: At this point, it’s not clear if Boeing will get any cred for a successful launch. Ars Technica has already written the epitaph of its space program—irrespective of whether Starliner has a successful launch:
The surprise is not that Boeing lost to a more nimble competitor in the commercial space race. The surprise is that this lumbering company made it at all. For that, we should celebrate Starliner’s impending launch and the thousands of engineers and technicians who made it happen.
Ouch! Well, at least hamaari Suni will get another jaunt in space :)
Reading list
NBC News offers a good overview of the launch. BBC News has the most details on the spacecraft—while NPR looks at its troubled history. Ars Technica has a nerdy takedown of Starliner’s engineering woes—and Boeing’s work culture as a whole. Business Insider has more on Sunita Williams—while NBC News profiles both astronauts. For more on Boeing’s Alaska Airlines’ debacle, read this Big Story.
