It is a success for Boeing, which must in the future transport astronauts for NASA. The Starliner capsule of the American aeronautics giant docked for the first time, on the night of Friday May 20 to Saturday May 21, at the International Space Station (ISS). The docking took place at 2:28 a.m. (French time) more than an hour behind the initially scheduled time due to final checks during the manoeuvres, meticulously choreographed 400 km above our heads.
Astronauts aboard the ISS and the control room in Houston closely monitored the approach. Starliner first leveled off about 250 m from the station. Then, after advancing slightly, the capsule retreated in order to show that it was capable of retreating if necessary. Finally, after a new controlled stop although longer than expected at 10 m, the delicate final maneuver, carried out while the station is speeding at 28,000 km/h, has been initiated. The vehicle approached slowly, until contact.
Hello, #Starliner! @BoeingSpace‘s human-rated spacecraft has arrived at the International @Space_Station for the first time, docking at 8:28pm ET (00:28 UTC). pic.twitter.com/gXceiHJhuB
—NASA (@NASA) May 21, 2022
“The Starliner spacecraft successfully completes its historic first docking with the International Space Station, opening a new route to the flying laboratory for crews”said a commentator on the US space agency’s live broadcast at the time.
The hatch of the capsule, which was carrying about 230 kg of supplies on behalf of NASA, will not be opened until Saturday. Starliner must remain docked to the ISS for about five days, before descending to Earth to land in the desert of the US state of New Mexico, on the basis of White Sands.
This unmanned test flight had already been attempted in 2019, but the capsule then encountered several problems and had to turn back without being able to reach the station. Since then, Boeing has been struggling to catch up with SpaceX, which has already been transporting astronauts for NASA since 2020, after the successful flights of its Dragon capsule.