Boeing Starliner Calypso

Boeing Starliner ''Calypso'' (Spacecraft 3) is a space capsule manufactured by Boeing and used in NASA's Commercial Crew Program. On 20 December 2019, ''Calypso'' launched on the Boeing Orbital Flight Test mission, an uncrewed test flight of Starliner to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was scheduled to dock to the ISS and then return to Earth following a week in space, although due to several software issues the spacecraft was unable to rendezvous with the station and landed after two days in space, resulting in Boeing needing to schedule a second Orbital Flight Test. It flew with two astronauts for Starliner Crewed Flight Test on its second mission in June 2024, though the capsule returned to Earth uncrewed after a series of malfunctions during the mission caused NASA to deem a crewed return flight too risky, instead returning them on SpaceX Crew-9.

History

In September 2014 Boeing was one of two companies selected by NASA to develop crewed spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, the other being SpaceX. Boeing planned to construct three Starliner spacecraft. The spacecraft's ability to be reused up to ten times with a six-month turnaround time between flights meant three spacecraft would be enough to satisfy the needs of the Commercial Crew Program.

Spacecraft 3 launched for the first time on Boe-OFT, the first orbital flight of Starliner, on 20 December 2019. The uncrewed spacecraft was scheduled to dock with the ISS the following day. However, due to software errors causing the spacecraft's Mission Elapsed Timer (MET) to be off by 11 hours, the spacecraft performed an "off-nominal orbital insertion burn" that prevented the spacecraft from being able to rendezvous and dock with the ISS during the flight. Instead, the spacecraft remained in orbit for two days, performing as many tests as possible without the ISS rendezvous, and landed at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico on 22 December 2019.

Upon landing, it was announced that the spacecraft would be reflown on Starliner-1, the first operational flight of Starliner to the ISS. After the announcement, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, commander of Starliner-1, named the spacecraft '' Calypso'' after Jacques-Yves Cousteau's oceanography vessel, RV ''Calypso''. ''Calypso'' is the only Starliner spacecraft to be given an official name. Although ''Calypso'' was initially scheduled to return to space on Starliner-1, Boeing announced in March 2020 that they would refly the Orbital Flight Test as OFT-2, which rearranged the spacecraft assignments for subsequent missions. ''Calypso'' returned to space on Boe-CFT, the first crewed test flight of Starliner. Following the spacecraft's second flight it is unclear when Boeing or NASA will fly the spacecraft again. Boeing is contracted to fly five operational missions to the ISS under the Commercial Crew Program following Starliner-1, so ''Calypso'' will likely see space for a third time on a later crew rotation flight.

The launch window for the crewed test flight was scheduled to open on 7 May 2024. An overactive oxygen valve on the Centaur upper stage of the Atlas V rocket led to the launch being delayed by one day.

The flight was scheduled for liftoff at 2:34 UTC on 7 May 2024, but was scrubbed about two hours before liftoff due to an oxygen valve problem on the United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Atlas V. After the initial scrub, the launch was repeatedly delayed due to a helium leak in the Starliner service module.

The second launch attempt was on 1 June at 16:25 UTC, but was scrubbed 3 minutes, 50 seconds before liftoff when the ground launch sequencer computer registered a loss of redundancy due to a faulty power supply. The third launch attempt on 5 June at 14:52 UTC was successful.

Flights

''Calypso'' flew in space for the first time on the Boe-OFT mission on 20 December 2019. The spacecraft was subsequently reflown on the Boeing Crewed Flight Test in June 2024 after delays. It swapped places with Spacecraft 2 on the Starliner-1 mission.

Notes

References

{{Starliner spaceflights

Boeing Starliner
Individual space vehicles