I'm sorry, but this is a major red flag! Critical control systems should not be leaking. Ever! Crazy that they've put people on this with such faults.
Boeing have really lost the plot.

Finally docked at the ISS at the second attempt after more problems. Big pucker factor coming home if anything similar happens during re-entry.

The first docking approach was aborted when they were ordered to retreat to a holding pattern 200m away known as the “keep out sphere” after five of the manoeuvring thrusters failed to fire.

https://www.space.com/boeing-starlin...ocking-attempt

…..”Starliner missed its first docking chance, at 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT), after five of its 28 reaction-control thrusters malfunctioned. But the mission team got four of those impacted thrusters back online, and Starliner was cleared to approach the ISS in the next window.”….

Move along there folks! Nothing to see here….

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/0...finds-its-way/

….However, the Boeing official speaking to reporters on Thursday, Nappi, sought to downplay the severity of the issues confronted by Starliner and its flight controllers. There are two primary problems, he said, the helium leak and the intermittent thruster problems.

"Those are pretty small, really, issues to deal with," he said. "We’ll figure them out for the next mission. I don’t see these as significant at all."

https://spacenews.com/fifth-helium-l...-on-starliner/

Fifth helium leak detected on Starliner

WASHINGTON — NASA confirmed that Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft has suffered a fifth, although minor, helium leak in its propulsion system as engineers work to prepare the vehicle for its return to Earth next week.

In a June 10 statement, NASA mentioned that spacecraft teams were examining “what impacts, if any, five small leaks in the service module helium manifolds would have on the remainder of the mission.”

That was the first reference to there being five leaks in the spacecraft; NASA had mentioned there were four in a briefing hours after the spacecraft’s June 6 docking with the International Space Station.

In a June 11 statement to SpaceNews, NASA spokesperson Josh Finch said the fifth leak was detected around the time of that post-docking briefing. “The leak is considerably smaller than the others and has been recorded at 1.7 psi [pounds per square inch] per minute,” he said.…..

It's a test flight, but still... :ooh:

https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/06/2...turn-to-earth/

NASA again delays Starliner undocking, return to Earth

NASA and Boeing managers have again decided to extend the Starliner crew capsule’s stay at the International Space Station, passing up a June 26 re-entry to allow more time for analysis and testing to make sure helium leaks and thruster failures are fully understood, officials said late Friday.

NASA plans to hold a formal re-entry readiness review before setting a new landing target date. Given the on-going analysis, the Starliner’s undocking and return to Earth likely will slip past two already planned space station spacewalks on Monday and July 2.

In the meantime, Starliner commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams are still cleared to undock and fly home at any time if a station malfunction or other issue crops up that requires a quick departure. As such, officials say they are not stranded in space.

“We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said in a statement. “We are letting the data drive our decision making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking.”

In addition, he said, given the extended duration of the Starliner mission “it is appropriate for us to complete an agency-level review, similar to what was done ahead of the NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 return after two months on orbit, to document the agency’s formal acceptance on proceeding as planned.”

He was referring to the first flight of astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon ferry ship in 2020. But the Demo-2 mission did not experience problems like the ones noted so far in the Starliner’s first piloted test flight.

The issue for Starliner troubleshooters is that the helium leakage and the thrusters in question are located in the Starliner’s drum-shaped service module, which is attached to the base of the crew capsule. The service module is jettisoned prior to re-entry and burns up in the atmosphere.

Given that engineers will not be able to examine the actual hardware after the fact, NASA and Boeing managers want to give them as much time as possible to review telemetry, to continue testing and to polish contingency scenarios in case additional problems show up after undocking.

They also want to learn as much as possible about what might be needed to prevent similar problems in downstream flights. NASA managers were hoping to certify the Starliner for operational crew rotation flights to the ISS starting early next year, but it’s not yet clear if that’s remains a realistic goal......

The continued postponement of Starliner's re-entry date concerns me. If helium leaks represented a threat to safe flight, the craft would have been brought home soonest to limit pressure loss. Malfunctioning and non-functioning thrusters are a matter of grave importance. Correct flight attitudes during re-entry are critical; axis excursions might lead to loss of crew. Perhaps there is another glitch of which we are unaware. Do Boeing and NASA know something we don't? Fingers crossed for Butch and Suni.

- Ed

Could they "just" take another vehicle back to earth and let Starliner return unmanned? It seems to need human astronauts for control?

There needs to be sufficient emergency escape vehicles available for all crew. Can they fit two more in a Dragon?

The (possibly) faulty thrusters are located in the Service Module, so whilst they may have a role in ensuring correct attitude for retro fire they would be long gone by the time the crew get to re-entry itself.

Which is part of the reason why they are delaying the return - the Service Module is destroyed during re-entry, so they can't examine the faulty thrusters. So they are doing various testing while docked to evaluate what's going wrong in an effort to isolate the root cause.

Points well made, wiggy and tdracer, but I continue to worry. If the Starliner has any commonality with its Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo predecessors, thrusters on the capsule itself are utilized throughout the re-entry phase up until drogue deployment. Do we know if the vehicle's thrusters are similar to those on the Service Module? Does it really take three weeks to run diagnostics on the Module's systems? I sense something is afoot of which we are unaware and sincerely hope that I am wrong!

- Ed

The starliner capsule reentry control thrusters are supposed to be traditional hydrazine units - Aerojet Rocketdyne MR-104J

I think Dragon was originally designed to carry seven astronauts if needed, but they generally fly with four and may not have additional seats available.

Designed for 7 so the environmental system can cope. Don’t have the SpaceX suits, but they’re a safety measure not a necessity. Plenty of space where the other seats were so padding could be added in the floor. So it is doable in an emergency.

But so is use of the Starliner itself. The delay is risk mitigation, not that there is a known problem which would endanger re-entry.

If there are doubts the safest option would be for them to remain aboard till the next Dragon crew rotation flight in August. Planned for 4 crew rotation but they could launch with just 2 plus extra suits and recover them with two of the planned returnees, extending the tours of the other 2.

That would reduce the total crew to the previous planned complement.

Starliner could be released before the arrival to do another automated test re-entry, freeing the docking bay.

If the Starliner crew have to be recovered on a Dragon, and the Starliner re -enter unmanned, I fear that will be the end of the whole Starliner program...I think that I read that Boeing are never going to recoup the money that they have spent on the program, and so cut their losses...
Lets see if the July date is kept..

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6pp29gdwe6o

There’s a reason you should do a LOT of testing before launch. :ouch:​​​​​​​

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/...ir-confidence/

SpaceX was awarded $267K on July 15 for "Special Study for Emergency Response."

A similar contract was awarded when NASA considered Frank Rubio on Dragon.

During the July 10th press conference, Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, mentioned NASA had looked at Dragon contingency per Butch and Suni waiting for Starliner to be cleared for return, so this may be related.

And we have a NASA response for context:

"The study is not related to Starliner. NASA continuously explores a wide range of contingency options with our partners to ensure crew safety aboard the International Space Station.

Over the past couple of years, the agency has worked with its commercial partner SpaceX to provide additional return capability on the Dragon spacecraft in the event of a contingency."

“additional return capability on the Dragon spacecraft in the event of a contingency”. Like for stranded astronauts?

But sure, this emergency 1 month long contract has nothing to do with the currently stranded Starliner 🙄

​​​​​​​Is this US Govt BS month or something and I missed the announcement?

Starliner update:

Teams completed ground hot fire testing at White Sands and are working to evaluate the test data and inspect the test engine. The ongoing ground analysis is expected to continue throughout the week.

Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program: "We collected an incredible amount of data on the thruster that could help us better understand what is going on in flight. Next, our team has moved into engine tear downs and inspections which will provide additional insight as we analyze the results and evaluate next steps."

​​​​​​​https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcre...inue-analysis/