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.
