Posted on 04/04/2025 8:25:10 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Wilmore gave a near minute-by-minute retelling of what went through his mind when four thrusters on the Boeing-made spacecraft failed while he and Williams were attempting to dock at the International Space Station.
The near-catastrophic crisis caused Wilmore to lose full control of the plagued capsule, leaving the seasoned astronauts floating in the vast void of space until NASA’s mission control came to their rescue.
“I don’t know that we can come back to Earth at that point,” Wilmore, 62, recalled in an interview with Ars Technica.
Wilmore explained that flight regulations typically call for malfunctioned ships to abort docking – even within close range to the ISS – and return to Earth. But NASA waived that mandate, he said.
Panic eventually began to set in as the pair attempted to direct the defective ship toward the ISS.
The space explorer said he had shared concerns about the capsule’s thrusters – which are essential for docking – with Boeing in the months prior to takeoff after an uncrewed flight test to the space station experienced similar malfunctions.
Mission control eventually instructed Wilmore to relinquish all remaining control of the capsule to allow NASA to reset the thrusters – a directive he said “was not easy to do.”
The remote override restored two of the failed thrusters, giving the ship just enough control to safely dock at the space station.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Someone is puzzled by the obviously proud nickname, Suni.
Space shuttle Columbia.
Technical people said “no”.
Managers said “yes”.
We got lucky this time - didn’t lose anybody.
Yup. Last flight was September 2017 to San Diego. I had one lined up on my birthday in August 2019 to Washington, DC when my wife had a seizure at 2:17 AM (my flight was 7:00 AM). Needless to say, I missed the flight. It was a long night at the hospital.
My last trip to San Diego for a 50th high school reunion was accomplished by driving my F150 from Pocatello to San Diego. In years past, I would do that in about 14 hours door to door. I opted for a hotel room midway in each direction. It was still cheaper than flying.
(prior to takeoff)
They KNEW before launch
It was reported here - I was saying DON’T LAUNCH - it was so obviously dangerous
What, just let them die?
Wow, that was a lot closer call than we ever knew. We almost lost that crew.
NASA/Boeing vs. SpaceX! But ALL must HATE Elon Musk!
Boeing needs to get its act together.
NASA needs to be severely DOGEd ...
Just taking the article at face value.
I guess a ‘mandate’ really isn’t a mandate, much less a rule.
They put a crew on a ship that had not performed a ‘clean run’, and ran into the same issues as the previous attempt - and ended up using the same REMOTE process to “FIX” the issue.
What did anyone learn from this? Nothing.
Except perhaps that a GOVERNMENT space program, needed a POLITICAL WIN in the face of serious private enterprise competition, put two people at risk (in a yet-unproven vehicle) in order to show a ‘manned spaceflight’ success.
NASA is showing why it’s an obsolete fixture of the Cold War space race.
Now we have to worry about being hit from parts or the whole damn thing falling out of the sky.
Whoever would believe the lowly thruster, with decades of experience, would be the issue.
It reminds me of Chevrolet having major brake problems on their 1980 X cars.
THAT SHIP HAS SAILED-—YEARS AGO
GOOD THING PENSKE DOESN’T RUN HIS RACE TEAMS WITH THE SAME THINKING
...and they call us unhinged neanderthals?
I guess there is no cut-off but NASA says age range is 27-46 with average being 39.
But Gilligan didn’t go on to space. Can you imagine all those fruitcakes up there?
Whoever would believe the lowly thruster, with decades of experience, would be the issue.
**********
Careless stupidity.
Not 'must' but, do. Boeing folks passionately hate the fact that SpaceX had to rescue the astronauts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.