Free Republic

NASA is grappling with a critical decision regarding the return of astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station (ISS) amid concerns over the Boeing Starliner’s autonomous undocking capabilities and the spacecraft’s potential to damage one of only two docking ports on the space station. ... plagued by multiple technical issues, significantly extending the originally planned eight-day mission. As NASA deliberates on the best course of action for bringing the astronauts home, a surprising revelation has emerged regarding the Starliner’s flight software. ... the current flight software onboard the Starliner lacks the ability to perform an automated...

The new international docking adapter, or IDA, was launched to the station last month aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship. The lab's robot arm pulled the docking mechanism out of the Dragon's trunk section earlier this week and positioned it directly atop a tunnel-like pressurized mating adaptor extending from Harmony's upper port. Working with electrical cables that were routed three years ago during two earlier spacewalks, Hague and Morgan connected the IDA to station power, allowing astronaut Christina Koch, working inside Harmony, to send commands driving internal hooks to close. After flight controllers confirmed the $22.5 million IDA was firmly...