Boeing

After separating from the ISS a few hours ago, Starliner is making its uncrewed landing, which is scheduled to touch down in New Mexico just after midnight ET.

If you're up, you can watch it live on NASA's YouTube channel.

The troubled spacecraft successfully undocked from the ISS without issue just after 6PM ET, and now it is scheduled to land at 12:01AM ET on Saturday at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

Boeing’s first crewed Starliner launch got Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore to the International Space Station in June, but with issues including helium leaks, will the same vehicle still bring them home?

We expect to find out during NASA’s press conference that was scheduled to start at 1PM ET following an Agency Test Flight Readiness Review.

Will astronauts  Barry ”Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams come home from the ISS on the Starliner, or will they wait to hitch a ride home from SpaceX next year without protective space suits?

We may find out on Saturday:

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and leadership will hold an internal Agency Test Flight Readiness Review on Saturday, Aug. 24, for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. About an hour later, NASA will host a live news conference at 1 p.m. EDT from Johnson Space Center in Houston.

In the meantime, NASA officials said on a media call that they will weigh the risks of bringing Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams home on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.

The spacesuits they brought wouldn’t work, so they’d have to return without the protection of wearing one. Staying in space longer, however, could expose the astronauts to extra radiation.

Days before Boeing’s deferred prosecution agreement over 737 Max crashes would’ve expired, a door plug blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight, and the case was reopened. Now, attorneys for family members of the crash victims have been told federal prosecutors will seek a guilty plea from Boeing to resolve a criminal fraud charge, which one lawyer called “another sweetheart deal.”

Seattle Times:

The plea deal would include a $244 million fine, a three-year probation and an independent monitor appointed to oversee the company’s progress on safety and quality improvements.

NASA has pushed back the capsule’s return to Earth from the ISS to examine helium leaks and a valve issue. The Starliner ran into multiple delays before finally launching earlier this month.

The agency is targeting a return “no earlier than” June 22nd, and plans to hold a teleconference at 12PM ET on June 18th to talk over details of the delayed departure.

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick, who’s been on the International Space Station since March, seems to enjoy sharing his camera settings. For the picture of the Boeing Starliner below, he followed up:

For the photography nerds: 1 second exposure, f 1.4, ISO 2000, 24 mm lens.

SpaceX isn’t the only one busy today, as the finally-launched Starliner is closing in on the International Space Station. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have already performed “about two hours of free-flight demonstrations,” and more are planned, despite additional helium leaks detected by flight controllers overnight.

The autonomous docking procedure is scheduled for 12:15PM ET.

NASA, Boeing, and the United Launch Alliance had hoped for a shorter delay, but NASA says the ULA is taking more time to troubleshoot an issue with ground launch systems that halted the mission less than four minutes from liftoff.

The next launch window begins on June 5th.

With just 3 minutes and 50 seconds to go, one of three redundant ground computers involved in the launch was slow to respond, triggering a hold and the call to abort liftoff, United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno said during a press conference today.

The next target for launch is 12:03PM ET tomorrow.

The mission will launch “hopefully the first of May,” according to Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore, who was joined by fellow astronaut Suni Williams during a NASA press conference yesterday.

NASA postponed the first crewed Starliner flight test last summer over safety concerns. When the mission launches, Wilmore and Williams will dock with the International Space Station for up to two weeks before returning to Earth.

The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) investigation will consider whether Boeing complied with its 2021 settlement with the DOJ in light of an Alaska Boeing 737 Max that recently lost a chunk of fuselage mid-flight, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Alaska Airlines reportedly called such investigations “normal.” In February, an investigation revealed that four bolts were missing from the door plug when it left Boeing’s factory.

Sure, the checked bag fees play a role in the lack of overhead bin space but they aren’t the whole story! The rise in hardsided cases that can’t squish, as well as too-large or oddly-shaped luggage, contribute to the problem. So does traveler impatience.

Two experts told The Atlantic what I’ve already told you: Check a bag, you glamorous beast.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s report describes the defect that prompted immediate aircraft groundings as the FAA scrambled to investigate a nightmarish January 5th Alaska Airlines flight.

As reported by CNBC, it says “four bolts that prevent upward movement of the MED plug were missing before the MED plug moved upward off the stop pads.”

So said Cornell Beard, the president of a union chapter representing Wichita factory workers for Spirit AeroSystems, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Spirit makes fuselages for Boeing’s 737 Max planes, and according to people the Journal interviewed, the company overworks its employees and ignores safety issues — a problem that may have led to the Alaska Airlines mishap that saw a hole blown in a mid-flight plane earlier this month.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement about the emergency airworthiness directive it sent to airlines today following what the directive termed a ‘rapid decompression’ of an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday.

Operators like Alaska will have to inspect “both left and right cabin door exit plugs, door components, and fasteners” and correct any problems they find before the planes can fly again (subject to FAA approval).

The New York Times writes that Flight 1282 made an emergency landing at Portland International Airport 20 because a wall blew out. Thankfully, all 171 passengers survived.

In a statement yesterday, Alaska Airlines said it would inspect the 65 grounded planes over “the next few days.” Today, the airline updated the statement, saying it’s inspected over a quarter of the fleet and saw “no concerning findings.”