Starliner spacecraft lands in New Mexico desert

(Replace 1: Provides particulars of touchdown, modifications lede and headline, minor edits)

Miami, Might 25 (EFE).- The uncrewed Boeing Starliner capsule landed Wednesday with out incident and on the scheduled time within the desert of New Mexico, United States, after earlier separating from the Worldwide House Station (ISS), the place it arrived final Friday with provides and gear.

The Starliner touched down at White Sands within the New Mexico desert at 6.49 pm native time (22:49 GMT), as scheduled, concluding a five-day journey wherein the capabilities of the capsule for manned missions had been put to the take a look at

At 6:45 pm the three big parachutes started to unfold and the airbag system was activated to cushion touchdown influence, in response to the pictures broadcast reside by Boeing and NASA.

4 minutes later, the capsule, which might stand up to exterior temperatures of as much as 3,000 levels Fahrenheit (1,648 levels Celsius), touched down at White Sands House Harbor.

On its homeward flight, the Starliner was carrying 270 kilograms (600 kilos) of cargo, together with reusable oxygen and nitrogen tanks that present breathable air to the ISS crew members. The tanks can be refilled and used on future area flights.

This concludes the tip of the OFT-2 (Orbital Flight Take a look at-2) mission developed between NASA and Boeing, which goals to exhibit “the end-to-end capabilities” of this spacecraft, from takeoff to touchdown.

The non-public aerospace agency plans to acquire NASA certification to have the ability to transport astronauts to and from the ISS, because the non-public agency SpaceX has now achieved 4 occasions utilizing its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon crew capsule.

No vital incidents have been registered thus far throughout the OFT-2 mission besides on Might 19, some half-hour after lifting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, when two of the capsule’s thrusters failed throughout its orbit-insertion burn, though the craft reached and docked with the ISS about 24 hours later with no additional downside.

That incident, which triggered the operation of a backup engine, doubtlessly will lengthen the evaluation NASA will make earlier than it certifies the craft for future operations and thus might delay the primary crewed flight to the ISS, tentatively deliberate for late this yr.

Initially, the mission was scheduled for August 2021 however Boeing determined to postpone it after detecting issues attributable to the entry of humidity into among the spacecraft’s propulsion system valves.

In December 2019, after a profitable liftoff, a primary try and ship the Starliner to the ISS failed resulting from technical issues the prevented it from attaining the right orbit. EFE

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