NASA’s astronauts rebranded the CST-100 Starliner in honour of the French explorer and naval officer Jacque Cousteau. The newly named Calypso will fly American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) despite suffering setbacks on its first orbital launch.
On Saturday, December 22, the Starliner landed in New Mexico, US, after blasting off into space on Friday.
The unmanned test flight was meant to test Starliner’s ability to reach and dock with the ISS.
But the spacecraft failed to reach its planned orbit, throwing the capsule off course.
Despite the hiccup, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine is confident Boeing is on track to deliver on its promises under the Commercial Crew contract.
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The NASA chief said: “Congratulations to the NASA and Boeing teams on a bullseye landing of the Starliner.
“The hardest parts of this orbital flight test were successful.
“This is why we conduct these tests, to learn and improve our systems.
“The information gained from this first mission of Starliner will be critical in our efforts to strengthen NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and return America’s human spaceflight capability.”
Upon return to Earth, the Boeing capsule was inspected by astronaut Sunita Williams who will fly the spacecraft on its next mission.
Congratulations to the NASA and Boeing teams on a bullseye landing
Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator
The astronaut rebranded the Starliner after Cousteau’s famous ship the Calypso.
Mrs Williams said: “I love what the ocean means to this planet. We would not be this planet without the ocean.
“There’s so much to discover in the ocean, and there’s so much to discover in space.”
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The astronaut also praised the Starliner’s “picture perfect” landing in New Mexico.
She said: “It was really, pretty unbelievable – it was picture perfect. Everything was just amazing, from seeing the tail as it flew in.
“Well, first of all, seeing the space station fly over was cool. Seeing the tail of the spacecraft fly over, see all of the pieces and parts start to come off – the forward heat shield, the base heat shield – to the parachutes open up.
“I mean it was just picture perfect. We had a beautiful, amazing team all out here ready to support.
“Everybody was pumped, everybody was cheering, it was spectacular. I mean, she’s back, she’s home.”
According to NASA, the orbital setback did not stop the test launch from ticking off a number of objectives.
Key among them were establishing space-to-space communications, validating life support systems and connecting to the ISS from orbit.
Boeing senior vice president Jim Chilton said: “Today’s successful landing of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is a testament to the women and men who have dedicated themselves to ensuring Starliner can safely transport crews to low-Earth orbit and back to Earth.
“The Starliner Orbital Flight Test has and will continue to provide incredibly valuable data that we, along with the NASA team, will use to support future Starliner missions launched from and returning to American soil.”
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