The Starliner crew had to work around thruster problems and more helium leaks, but pulled off a successful space station docking.
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.
With commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams monitoring the Starliner’s automated approach, the Starliner’s docking mechanism engaged its counterpart on the front of the station’s forward Harmony module at 1:34 p.m. EDT as the two spacecraft were sailing 260 miles above the Indian Ocean.
A few moments later, the Boeing ferry ship was pulled in for a “hard” mating, ensuring an airtight structural seal.
“That was an OK, three-wire, fly Navy docking complete!” mission control radioed.
“OK indeed,” replied Wilmore, a veteran astronaut and former Navy test pilot. “Nice to be attached to the big city in the sky.”
After extensive leak checks, hatches were expected to be opened so Wilmore and Williams could float into the lab complex to join the seven Expedition 71 crew members: cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nicolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin, along with NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps and Tracy Dyson.
