Boeing's Starliner capsule is seen approaching the International Space Station with two NASA astronauts on board on June 6, 2024.
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Solving the propulsion problem.
NASA flight controllers canceled a previously scheduled approach to resolve problems with Starliner's propulsion system. Starliner has 28 jets, known as reaction control system (RCS) engines, that help the spacecraft make small movements in orbit.
NASA Capsule Communicator, or CAPCOM, Neal Nagata, told the Starliner crew, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, that the 12:15 p.m. docking attempt had to be canceled to resolve the spacecraft propulsion problem. CAPCOM Nagata noted that the ISS has zero fault tolerance for a spacecraft control problem.
The agency and Boeing had to troubleshoot five of the RCS planes that were not working. Four of the damaged Starliner planes were recovered, after Wilmore and Williams worked with flight controllers to test the boosters.
CAPCOM Nagata had the astronauts keep the spacecraft beyond the “exclusion sphere,” an invisible boundary around the ISS that serves as a safety measure, while they diagnosed the problematic boosters.
