William Harwood – Page 3 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX to launch privately-financed international crew of four around Earth’s poles

August 12, 2024 William Harwood

A blockchain entrepreneur, a cinematographer, a polar adventurer and a robotics researcher plan to fly around Earth’s poles aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule by end of year, becoming the first humans to observe the ice caps and extreme polar environments from orbit, SpaceX announced Monday.

NASA ‘getting more serious’ about backup plan to bring Starliner astronauts home if needed

August 7, 2024 William Harwood

As NASA debates the safety of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in the wake of multiple helium leaks and thruster issues, the agency is “getting more serious” about a backup plan to bring the ship’s two crew members back to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon, officials said Wednesday.

Make-or-break tests on tap for Boeing’s Starliner capsule

July 26, 2024 William Harwood

Critical tests are on tap this weekend to confirm Boeing’s Starliner capsule can safety carry its two-person crew back to Earth despite unexpected helium leaks and degraded maneuvering thrusters, officials said Thursday.

NASA plans for space station’s demise with new SpaceX ‘Deorbit Vehicle’

July 18, 2024 William Harwood

The ISS Deorbit Vehicle, or DV, will be a custom-built, one-of-a-kind spacecraft needed to make sure the space station re-enters the atmosphere at the precise place and in the proper orientation to insure any wreckage that survives the 3,000-degree heat of re-entry will crash harmlessly into the sea.

Starliner crew confident spacecraft will bring them safely home

July 11, 2024 William Harwood

Helium leaks and thruster issues prompted NASA to extend their stay aboard the space station indefinitely — Wednesday marked their 35th day in orbit — while engineers carry out tests and analysis to better understand what caused the problems and to make sure the spacecraft can safely being Wilmore and Williams home.

Starliner landing now on indefinite hold for more tests, but NASA insists crew not ‘stranded’ in space

June 29, 2024 William Harwood

The problem for NASA and Boeing is that the Starliner’s service module, which houses the helium lines, thrusters and other critical systems, is discarded before re-entry and burns up in the atmosphere. Engineers will not be able to study the hardware after the fact and as a result, they want to collect as much data as possible before NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams head home.

NASA again delays Starliner undocking, return to Earth

June 22, 2024 William Harwood

NASA and Boeing managers have again decided to extend the Starliner crew capsule’s stay at the International Space Station, passing up a June 26 re-entry to allow more time for analysis and testing to make sure helium leaks and thruster failures are fully understood, officials said late Friday.

NASA moves Starliner landing to June 26 to collect more test flight data

June 18, 2024 William Harwood

The additional docked time will give Starliner commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams more time to help out aboard the station while flight controllers and engineers continue scrutinizing telemetry and finalizing plans for re-entry with five known helium leaks in the capsule’s propulsion system and unexpected, presumably now-resolved issues with multiple maneuvering jets.

Starliner crew welcomed aboard space station

June 8, 2024 William Harwood

Working around multiple helium leaks and thruster problems, the crew of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft wrapped up a challenging rendezvous and a delayed-but-successful docking with the International Space Station Thursday in a major milestone for the new ship’s first piloted test flight.

Despite gyro failure, NASA says Hubble Space Telescope still up to world-class science

June 5, 2024 William Harwood

Trouble with one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s three remaining gyroscopes, critical for aiming and locking onto targets, prompted mission managers to switch to a backup control mode that will limit some observations but keep the iconic observatory running well into the 2030s, officials said Tuesday.