Starliner's Trouble: No Coming Back, Stuck On ISS! Musk's Reaction...

after many years the story of Starliner delay finally reached a triumphant conclusion with the successful launch of its first astronaut to the ISS has everything really changed not entirely following liftoff this spacecraft encountered numerous challenges from the journey to the ISS during its stay there and even as It prepares for its return trip so on today's episode of great SpaceX let's dive into a summary of Starliner recent problems and explore what lies ahead for this pioneering mission in recent days Starship flight 4 has captured the spotlight in the Aerospace industry overshadowing the attention on Star liner's first crude flight however the issues surrounding Starliner are equally noteworthy firstly we must congratulate NASA Boeing and Ula on their success in launching this crude flight after numerous delays this achievement marks their initial step into the orbital crew launch market where their rival spacex's dragon is currently dominating despite the competition spacex's founder Elon Musk graciously congratulated them saying congratulations on a successful launch but despite its significant strides Starliner still faces numerous challenges let's dive in on them firstly you might recall Star liner's 5 delays before its eventual launch three of these incidents involved helium leaks despite the potential risks the decision was made to launch Starliner on the 5th of June right after liftoff two more helium leaks occurred escalating anxiety to its peak fortunately though the spacecraft continued its Journey to the ISS however another issue soon arose two reaction control system Jets failed resulting in the malfunction of five out of the 28 reaction control system thrusters this certainly brings back memories of the nerve-racking December 2019 flight back then the spacecraft prototype Calypso failed to rendevu with the ISS and had to turn back and land on Earth fortunately during this Mission four of the five malfunctioning thrusters were restored allowing the spacecraft to reach the ISS at approximately 1:34 p.m. EDT on June 6th the connection between Starliner and the ISS was confirmed but the challenges didn't end there after arriving at the station Starliner encountered yet another helium leak a few days later just as NASA announced that Starliner would postpone its return scheduled to support a space walk a fifth leak appeared on the spacecraft besides technical problems Starliner also faced issues with its Mission schedule according to the initial plan astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams were to spend a week at the station before returning to Earth however that time has passed and Starliner has not yet returned so why the delay as mentioned NASA announced that the mission would be extended until June 18th so that the two astronauts could support the spacewalk mission usa90 unfortunately this mission was cancelled because the astronauts experienced discomfort with their suits disrupting CFT 1's plans and rendering the extension unnecessary on June 14th NASA decided to postpone Starliner return date by 4 days moving it to June 22nd the agency stated the extra time allows the team to finalize departure and planning operations while the spacecraft remains cleared for crew emergency return scenarios within the flight rules Steve Stitch manager of NASA's commercial crew program explained in a mission blog post We are continuing to understand the capabilities of Starliner to prepare for the long-term goal of having it perform a six-month dock Mission at the space station as Stitch noted this preparation is essential for starliners Future Crew missions under NASA's contract which will last up to 6 months similar to the ongoing Dragon missions various reasons have been provided but in my opinion these time extensions are meant to give NASA and Boeing more time to fix the helium leaks and Thruster failures these two systems are crucial for Star liner's return to Earth do you think Starliner will return on June 22nd please leave a yes or a no in the comment section down below for now let's discuss whether Starliner journey home will be smooth or not in my opinion there are many concerns worth addressing here firstly a helium leak poses significant risks on June 10th NASA officials wrote in a CFT update Engineers evaluated the helium Supply based on current leak rates and determined that Starliner has plenty of margin to support the return trip from the station only 7 hours of free flight time is needed to perform a normal end of mission and starlander currently has enough helium left in its tanks to reports 70 hours of free flight activity following undocking however when the fifth leak appeared later doubts began to surface although the amount of confirmed fuel remains substantial continuous leaks can still be problematic especially since Starliner will remain docked at the ISS until the 22nd or possibly longer if the leak is not fixed it will continue to deplete the necessary amount of helium and there's no way to predict if more leaks will occur in the remaining days at the same time returning also poses risks due to previous issues with star liner's parachute system unlike Dragon which primarily lands in the ocean Starliner is designed to land by Parachute in the White Sands Missile Range area in New Mexico upon Landing it will also have the additional support of an air cushion system to reduce impact however Starliner faced several parachute problems last year it required several months of repairs and wasn't successfully tested until earlier this year despite these tests there is no guarantee that this system won't encounter issues again and of course before landing successfully Starliner will still have to go through a harsh re-entry process in previous Landings there were no problems with this process but it still required a lot of attention but remember that in addition to the parachute problem last year the Starliner also had problems related to flammable electrical wiring this problem can completely recur when the spacecraft goes through an extremely harsh re-entry period this is a crew mission and Boeing cannot underestimate any potential risks more than anything I really hope the two Starliner astronauts will complete their mission and return safely to Earth I also hope that those who watch this video will leave a like as a way to send their best wishes to the two astronauts in their upcoming and important return looking ahead Starliner faces numerous challenges on the horizon with its successful mission to transport as to the ISS Starliner has officially entered the Space Race competing with its rival spacex's Dragon both spacecraft received contracts from NASA in 2014 if Starliner completes this Mission it'll achieve official certification to conduct commercial crew missions however overcoming Dragon which currently holds a significant lead will not be easy due to the substantial gap between the two spacecraft after 10 years dragon has successfully completed nine missions for NASA excluding private missions all of which were 100% successful SpaceX has achieved this Milestone through the commercial crew program with eight missions completed so far including Crew 8 launched in March currently docked at the ISS this track record alone surpasses Starliner even if Boeing's spacecraft were to complete all its missions looking ahead dragon has six more missions planned further solidifying its lead over competitors the next mission crew is scheduled for launch in August additionally dragon is expanding its influence in private missions in the third quarter Dragon will launch its first private spacewalk Mission Polaris Dawn which promises significant breakthroughs such as the SpaceX Eva suit success in this Mission will further enhance dragon's dominance given its current capabilities Boeing and starler have a long road ahead before they can approach such tasks regarding the recent incidence with Starliner Dragon once again demonstrated its superiority you might wonder about the connection here after Starliner encountered problems many questioned its ability to safely return astronauts to Earth at that time a compelling suggestion emerged NASA should consider spacex's dragon as a potential solution to rescue the two astronauts in terms of both Readiness or availability of dragons and reliability dragon is well equipped for such missions however this scenario would likely not sit well with NASA and Boeing who have invested considerable effort in Starliner return failing to retrieve Starliner could be seen as a significant setback this situation brings to mind Elon musk's previous reaction to Starliner delays the world doesn't need another capsule what matters is fully reusable rockets and spacecraft not only that but dream catcher I'm sorry Dreamchaser is also poised to enter this competitive Arena the space plane has demonstrated reliability throughout testing and boasts considerable potential if Starliner fails to perform adequately it could face significant competition following the cft1 mission Starliner is slated to begin its NASA assigned missions starting with Starliner 1 scheduled for early next year however ongoing issues with Starliner could potentially lead to delays with approximately six missions planned over the next 5 to 6 years before the retirement of the ISS the pressure is on for Starliner to deliver boing and NASA have a lot of their plate moving forward starting with the safe return of their two astronauts what lies ahead remains to be seen well folks that's about it for today's episode thank you so much for tuning in and as always this has been Kevin from great SpaceX until next time keep looking up