Starliner successfully lands in New Mexico
Capitalism in space: Boeing today successfully completed the safe landing of Starliner from an unmanned demo mission to ISS, making it the only American capsule to touchdown on the ground using parachutes. This was the second Starliner to do so, though the first demo mission was cut short just after reaching orbit.
The screen capture to the right comes from the live stream, about two minutes before touchdown. You can see the airbags deployed under the capsule, which inflated just after the heat shield was jettisoned.
The capsule landed only 0.3 miles from its target, an excellent result. Crews are now heading to the capsule at White Sands to carefully check it out, to make sure no hazardous fuel leaks pose a threat to those ground crews.
I must complement Boeing (and NASA) on providing very professional coverage. It has often been painful in recent years to watch any NASA broadcast because of the breathless propaganda the agency has somehow thought it needed to do. In this case however the announcers and the broadcast were calm, thoughtful, and very informative, focused not on emotion but on reporting what was actually happening. Kudos to Boeing!
The second image to the right is especially significant, as it shows the recovery crews shortly after they had arrived by vehicle. For Boeing this gives it a distinct advantage over SpaceX’s Dragon capsules, which splashes down in the ocean. On the ground things will go much faster, and be much safer.
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Capitalism in space: Boeing today successfully completed the safe landing of Starliner from an unmanned demo mission to ISS, making it the only American capsule to touchdown on the ground using parachutes. This was the second Starliner to do so, though the first demo mission was cut short just after reaching orbit.
The screen capture to the right comes from the live stream, about two minutes before touchdown. You can see the airbags deployed under the capsule, which inflated just after the heat shield was jettisoned.
The capsule landed only 0.3 miles from its target, an excellent result. Crews are now heading to the capsule at White Sands to carefully check it out, to make sure no hazardous fuel leaks pose a threat to those ground crews.
I must complement Boeing (and NASA) on providing very professional coverage. It has often been painful in recent years to watch any NASA broadcast because of the breathless propaganda the agency has somehow thought it needed to do. In this case however the announcers and the broadcast were calm, thoughtful, and very informative, focused not on emotion but on reporting what was actually happening. Kudos to Boeing!
The second image to the right is especially significant, as it shows the recovery crews shortly after they had arrived by vehicle. For Boeing this gives it a distinct advantage over SpaceX’s Dragon capsules, which splashes down in the ocean. On the ground things will go much faster, and be much safer.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Yay Boeing!!!
Despite all the screwups you managed to do the right thing.
Congratulations to all the hard working engineers, technician and administrative types and everyone else that contributed to this effort.
Fixing stuff is hard.
I hope Starliner can find a place in the future.
Isi it the second one? The first Starliner test landed that way too.
Not sure of the airbag advantage. Starliner ditches the heat shield. Look out below!!! Dragon reuses the heat shield. Safer maybe, in planed descent where you can plan and pick your target. I personally would rather land on a nice flat solid surface and have a nice limo ride to the nearest bar but sometimes you may not have a choice.
I wonder if a Dragon crew could survive a solid landing.
While New Shepard isn’t orbital and doesn’t have to deal with a heat shield, I think it still deserves some credit for successful manned landings on dry ground.
Should be remembered (IIRC) that SpaceX originally planned for Dragon to land on the ground using retro rockets. but NASA had safety concerns so they went with the more conservative water landings.
LTC SDS: You are right. I forgot about that first demo mission. I have edited the post, correcting it.
We needed some good news,
“ On the ground things will go much faster, and be much safer.”
Only if those airbags consistently deploy, or mostly deploy. Recall they had a chute failure on one of their test drops—I suppose since there are multiple airbags they could have a few fail and still be OK. Still, it’s additional critical pyro deployment events that Dragon doesn’t have. But they are on dry land—seems like an even trade risk-wise.
Colliding with water, at speed, is similar to hitting land as water is non compressible in nature. Whatever modality Elon decides is best for SpaceX will be fascinating to watch. I’m of the opinion that the deciding factor between water or land returns should be guided by safety.
t-dub,
Stating safety is the “guiding factor” is easy. Do you care to elaborate? How do you stack up the risks as you perceive them between water and land touchdowns? Are you going to consider single or multiple points of failure? Site availability due to adverse conditions.? Emergencies?
Elon’s decision was the result of a process where he had to consider safety along with cost. How much does safety cost?
I’m am really not trying to be antagonistic but saying that “safety” is the dominant factor in decision making needs to be filled out a little. A lot of people embrace the same type of thinking and I really don’t understand how they feel comfortable to say such things. Is this a really considered opinion? How does this work in practice?
Are you aware that Starship as planned has no emergency escape system? And a failure in one of multiple interacting systems during a broomstick handing results in the death of the crew (which is going to happen eventually because nothing is really “perfectly safe”)? How does safety come into play in these circumstances? Should Elon abandon his plans because they aren’t safe?
I’m honestly interested in how you see these things. Anyone else, please feel free to chime in.
Pawn,
Starship as a pure cargo vessel represents such a leap forward in capability that it could operate for years before considered human rated. On the other hand NASA has it planned as a manned lunar lander and that application has no parachute or winged landing possible.
StarShip could operate for many years without being human-rated for launch and landing.
Not only could it make many unmanned flights as a sat deployment vehicle, but the manned variants operating on the Moon would have no atmosphere for parachutes.
Finally, capsules and reusable boosters provide an alternative to transfer crew between LEO and Earth’s surface, avoiding the need for crewed ships to either launch or land.
I was hoping it would land in the Willcox Playa (Cochise County, AZ) instead of White Sands. Maybe next time.