Starliner returns safely to Earth, without the astronauts

[beschizza]

Originally published at: Starliner returns safely to Earth, without the astronauts - Boing Boing

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[Mister44]

Well, its good that despite safety fears, it worked.

[Otherbrother]

@Mister44

despite safety fears, it worked

Mostly. I read elsewhere that 2 of the thrusters failed on the trip back.

Edit to update- here’s what ARS Technica says:

A couple of fresh technical problems cropped up as Starliner cruised back to Earth. One of 12 control jets on the crew module failed to ignite at any time during Starliner’s flight home. These are separate thrusters from the small engines that caused trouble earlier in the Starliner mission. There was also a brief glitch in Starliner’s navigation system during reentry.

So a whole new kind of thruster problem. Not ideal!

[FGD135]

Was it humming all the way down?

[MikeR]

They might even get Starliner debugged before the ISS is deorbited.

Wouldn’t be too surprised if Starliner never got a chance to fly on Vulcan.

[kentkb]

I hope they stuffed it full of garbage and other things they need to recycle on a regular basis.

From Nasa.gov:
“ Current waste disposal methods on the International Space Station rely on astronauts manually processing trash by placing it into bags then loading it onto a designated vehicle for short term storage, which depending on the craft, returns the trash to Earth or burns up in the atmosphere. This disposal method will not be available for missions beyond low-Earth orbit.”