Boeing Starliner Return LIVE | Starliner Returns To Earth Without Sunita Williams And Barry Wilmore

e this uh is a live view from the International Space Station where we're able to get a view of uh Starliner track as it comes in we are now less than 10 minutes away from landing at wh Sands space Harbor scheduled for uh 10 or 11:00 p.m. central also uh getting reports that the WB 57 is also able to see Starliner now as it begins coming in for its uh for its Landing we've still got just about a minute left to go before Starliner comes out of its uh blackout period and this is the view from the wb-57 one of uh NASA's aircraft that is uh at the uh Landing site has been uh been uh staged and ready to pick a Starliner or pick up the view of Starliner as it comes in and that is what we are seeing now and they're filming this video from about 16,000 ft the bb57 should continue to uh give us a view until the drogue parachutes deploy and then we hope to pick it up with the Cessna that is also in the area and and flight controllers here in the room are reporting that we are out of that blackout period and everything is looking good Starliner remaining nominal as she returns to Earth again this is a view from the WB 57 Starliner showing a beautiful streak across the sky as she returns to White Sands New Mexico we're about 3 minutes away from the forward heat shield jetsin that's the next Milestone we're looking for Starliner is currently about 27 mil above the earth and the team at uh W Sands reporting that they have seen it we got a tally hole from them uh reported remotely that means they are seeing Starliner from the ground there in New Mexico this view is coming from the Cessna that's also in the area picking up uh star now Starliner now from its lower altitude about 6,000 ft above whereas the wb-57 is about 16,000 ft up we are now just uh 6 minutes and 22 seconds away away from Landing we should also just be a couple minutes away from the forward heat to jettison which will bring on the drog parachute deploy followed by the main parachutes and the strobe lights on Starliner are now on Starliner is now over the landing site and that strobe light will help the teams actually track star liner on the ground because it is very dark out there now about 12 Mi above uh The Landing site and just 5 minutes away from Landing watching now for the forward heat shield Jenison that should be coming up uh again making way from for the parachute deployment all right and that action you're seeing on your screen forward heat sheld and drugs out really interesting view of this uh coming down from the wb-57 see those two drug parachutes uh now deployed they slow the uh vehicle down initially until it gets to a uh a safe uh speed for the enormous main parachutes to to follow about four minut go until touchdown now back to A View From the Cessna aircraft in the uh vicinity of the landing site again this is a A View From a little lower than the WB 57 we were seeing the next thing we're going to see here is the three main parachutes come out and everything will happen pretty quickly from that point on after those Mains are out we'll see the uh bottom heat shield that has been protecting uh Starliner through its journey through the atmosphere come off that makes way for the landing airbags to deploy and there's the main parachutes there on your screen we see three out currently reefing and the teams at the uh Landing uh recovery teams report that they heard uh booms as those came out three good Mains fully open there you can see Starliner in a slight tilt so we're going to see the rotation handle move here shortly and it will level out Starliner but three good parachutes looking great just a little over 2 minutes until the expected Landing time and we heard the rotational handle has been released so you can see that uh tilt evened out next up is the back heat shield jettison and there it goes that again makes way for the airbag inflation nice to see that you can see the airbags deploying there on your screen those Air Mags are filled with nitrogen as they guide Starliner safely back to the desert floor just a beautiful sight as Starliner makes its way to the Sands of New Mexico and fight controllers confirming six good airbags few still coming to us from the cesna we've got uh about just about a minute left to go until the expected touchdown be watching for that time for you e just about 15 seconds away from expected touchdown you're seeing the ground there in your screen as we get closer e touchdown Starliner is back on Earth that Landing coming at 1101 and 35 seconds Central Time 10:01 and 31 seconds mountain time at wh sand space armor at the US Army's Missile Range in New Mexico our landing and Recovery teams will now wait for clearance before making their way to the spacecraft one of the changes uh required with no crew on board is that the team here in the flight control room will be the ones to uh command the uh parachute uh to be cut away so that uh the wind doesn't pull the capsule along but uh that's no problem for them so uh now with the with Starliner down they can begin working on some of the post Landing to-do items again uh we saw Starliner touchdown at 11:01 p.m. central Time that's uh 1 minute after midnight Eastern Time or 10:01 p.m. central at the Landing site in New Mexico This Is A View From the Cessna still watching the drones slowly make their own way down uh those of course are the uh the drog parachutes that uh preceded the main par uh first slowing Starliner down before the the large parachutes opened and really just a Flawless and beautiful Descent of Starliner today even heard some cheers and clapping in the background e this again is the drug parachut still uh still making their way to the ground after Starliner has touched down with its main parachutes touchdown came at 11:01 pm. Central Time the team here uh in michig control will be working through some post Landing steps now view here of star laner at its Landing site in uh White Sands at space Harbor The Landing recovery teams will soon begin making its way out to them to uh begin recovering the spacecraft team here in uh mission control is pulling right now to see if everybody is ready to power off the vehicle that again is a step that the flight control team is taken over with the uh with the uh lack of crew on board once the spacecraft is powered down they will be transitioning control of the spacecraft over to The Landing and Recovery team and it's a little difficult to see in this shot but there is a strobe light on Starliner that will help the teams follow it out [Applause] there and the uh recovery team is on the move but I think Leah chesar and Josh Barrett our colleagues out there may be able to give us one last update Leah and Josh can you hear us great landing of calypso I don't think there hope um obviously we did have really a great show we were able to see the cameras that you were watching too from the WB 57 from the Cessna from the International Space Station but can I interrup yes concur it's been a really amazing day we were hearing a bit from space to ground there uh but I think they've concluded unfortunately uh we'll see if we can get a recording of that for uh folks uh listening at home but Leah go ahead with your update yeah sorry about that couldn't hear that one here so uh but MC here Rick just wanted to offer that he's got one more hour here hey it's his birthday once again flight director Rick hling has gotten a go from starliners for Star four starliners deorbit burn from all of the flight controllers watching over the spacecraft's return tonight and that again means we are officially on for Starliner return to Earth at about 11:00 p.m. central time or midnight Eastern the dart burn at uh 10:17 p.m. central Time Is Now just 17 minutes away that'll be a 59 second firing of four of Starliner orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters on Starliner service module and joining us live from Starliner Landing Zone with Whit Sands uh at Whit Sands space Harbor in New Mexico our colleagues Leah Cheshire from NASA public affairs and boeings Josh Barrett Leah and Josh how is it going out there thanks Brandy it is going well out here uh we are out here in White Sands the weather right now is about 75 degrees and very light winds approximately 6 miles per hour uh this looks like potentially a picture from earlier today it is quite dark out here at this point we have a beautiful view of the stars and we are lined up in the Convoy getting ready to roll that's right Leah so I've been out here for both of Starliner previous Landings the first one was very cold the second one was quite warm and this one feels just about right uh we're following along with two command Vehicles we've got the mlcc or the mobile Landing control center uh they're tied in down in Mission Control in Houston with the people that you're seeing on your screen right now uh we also have the mdtv that's the mobile data and tracking vehicle and on top of that it's got a suite of Optics on top there's an infrared camera and two visible cameras one of them with a telescopic Focus so those will be the first things that we'll be seeing Starliner with here from The Landing Zone and you should be seeing those on your screens as well and Leah's got a few more things that she'll talk about that should get some cameras on Starliner as well yeah especially the WB 57 NASA plane that took off just a few hours ago uh just as we were heading out here to The Landing site so we arrived here at about 6:00 p.m. local time which is Mountain Time uh and since then have been getting ready lining up uh doing community Communications checks between the various teams and just getting ready to eventually drive out to The Landing site once Starliner comes down so uh it is a sea of white gypsum sand out here um and teams are continuing to just prepare as soon as we get into that deorbit burn so they are actually in a uh huddle right now talking through some of the next steps for tonight um getting ready to come and join us here in the Convoy as we await to see the deorbit burn so with that right now we are going to turn it back over to you Brandy and Lauren we are going to stick around though and cannot wait to see Starliner coming straight across the sky thank you thanks so much Leah and Josh we are hoping to get some good views from where you guys are at later today now once we make that final burn to get out of orbit today it'll take about 45 minutes for Starliner to reach its destination again white sand space Harbor in New Mexico where we just spoke with our colleague from Starliner is currently flying with its solar arrays pointed toward the sun recharging the internal batteries to keep its systems powered through Landing the orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters or what we call omx will fire for about a minute to conduct the deorbit burn that maneuver slows the spacecraft down from orbital velocities and allows it to start falling back to Earth in a head down position at the end of that deorbit burn Starliner angles itself for re-entry the deorbit burn is just the first in the series of Milestones we're going to be taking off tonight to give you the full rundown uh deorbit burn is scheduled for 10:17 p.m. central as uh as we said we just got the go for that a few minutes ago it's going to be followed by the separation of the crew module from the service module at 10:20 p.m. and the crew module will then continue on on its own at 10:45 p.m. Starliner will begin to fill the uh effects of the Earth's atmosphere again for the first time since it's asent in June and a few minutes later around 10:47 the heat from Star liner's reentry will become so intense that the plas that plasma will begin uh to form around the spacecraft causing a blackout in Communications with Starliner for about 4 and A2 minutes once Starliner clears that blackout period things will begin to happen very quickly yeah so then up next at 10:56 when Starliner is about 4.3 Mi above Earth the spacecraft will be done with the forward heat shield that is at the top of the capsule that helped protect it through re-entry and it will jettison it to make way for the parachutes that are stored underneath and then almost immediately those parachutes will begin to deploy first with two smaller drog parachutes that are meant to tick the edge off Starliner speed they open up in stages over the course of about 28 seconds and then at 10:57 p.m. when Starliner is about 6 miles up the drug parachutes are released and three main parachutes are deployed they also open in stages over about 16 seconds but they stay with the spacecraft all the way until touchdown and again we are expecting that touchdown to come at 11: p.m. central just before the touchdown however at 10:58 p.m. Starliner also sheds its based heat shield at the bottom of the capsule to make way for the inflation of six Landing airbags hidden underneath it and those will cushion the vehicle as it lands in New Mexico's Des it's probably worth mentioning that we do not have a video from Starliner if you think back to June on its ascent and journey to the International Space Station um it it's not able to send video down when it's not connected to space station so we won't be getting INF flat views from it but we do have several cameras out at the Landing site as well as some aircraft in the area that you're hoping to get some views from uh but of course it is going to be pretty dark out in the desert at night so um they may be infrared or black and white views um but hopefully we'll we'll get some some good uh camera views to show you and we're taking a live look now from The Landing site but uh the shot is quite dark at the moment you can see just a few lights blinking there uh hopefully as we get uh closer to to the ground as Starliner gets closer down we will have some better shots e the landing and Recovery teams have been out in the desert preparing for the spacecraft's return for several days I've been speaking with them to catch up on some of the preps that have been taking place they ran through a full mission dress rehearsal where they practic the landing and Recovery operation with all the different groups and functions and they've also been keeping a close eye on the wind direction to establish the best recovery zone out at White Sands they've even sent up some weather balloons to check the wind speeds tracking Vehicles out there are equipped cameras uh so the team has been calibrating those and again although we don't expect any views from Starliner on its way down we're hoping to get some good ones from those tracking cameras as well as aircraft in the area we plan to have the wb-57 getting views while it is um about 16,000 ft above the ground until the drogue parachutes uh deploy and then at about 6,000 feet um we hope to see views from a Cessna in the area and this is actually a current view of the Cessna as it makes its way out to The Landing site at wh sand space Harbor in New Mexico and this is a shot from one of the ground cameras that we have on site so again although it is dark there we are hoping to to see um to see some good views and in the last few hours the teams there on the ground have been at the holding area loading up their vehicles doing last minute checks making sure all the equipment is ready to go and then shortly they'll begin moving into place to watch Starliner make its Final Approach and then once Starliner lands teams will move closer in a very strategic way they will first stop at about the 500t mark away from the spacecraft and then they'll move in closer to the 150t mark while ground teams safe the vehicle that first team on site with Starliner will be what we call the gold team they start recovery operations by performing what's called a sniff test where they use sensors to check for hydrazine one of the propellants that uh Starliner uses they'll be wearing protective gear known as hazmat suits to prevent exposure to hypergolic propellants hydrazine is used as propellent and it if it turns into a vapor it can be toxic after the sft test they will notify the rest of the boy when it's safe to approach and then they're going to check the winds make sure the entire landing and Recovery team is staged uprange from the direction the wind is blowing for added protection now everyone out there is part of a different color team and they were vest with that color so it's very obvious who does what so the next up is the silver team and their first job is to ground the spacecraft Starliner will be powered down but there could be some residual electricity so before anyone can touch it they will ground it and discharge it teams here on the ground are reporting that um everything is getting into good configuration for the deorbit burn that's now just about um 6 and a half minutes away uh going on uh with the with what we were saying we also will have the blue team that documenting that documents everything that's going on at the Landing site these are photographers from both Boeing and NASA who have situational awareness cameras and again here's a a current view of those teams all um ready to deploy at Landing yeah that's the holding site that we were mentioning and then of course you can see um the mountains there in the background in this black and white View and the Green Team hooks up the HVAC trailers to Starliner to get cooling on it but their first job is to put up an environmental enclosure on the spacecraft and that enclosure looks a lot like a big inflatable it wraps around the vehicle to get cool air around it and make sure the critical systems don't overheat then the red team opens the hatch that is mostly uh Boeing fire rescue they will back up the mobile access platform to Star liner's hatch giving the team access and Starliner will be bringing back more than 900 lbs of cargo including a nitrogen oxygen recharge system or what we call nors tank that NASA um will service and refill for future space station needs the teams will unload that cargo before Starliner heads back to Florida just over 5 minutes to go now until tonight's uh 10:17 p.m. central Time deorbit Burn team here on the ground reports that Starliner has gotten into the right attitude uh kind of the right way it's pointing uh for that burn so everything is looking good we're on track for uh landing at 11:00 p.m. central midnight Eastern with just a couple minute or four minutes left to go into the deorbit burn we're going to check in once again with the landing team and Leah Cheshire and Josh Barrett thanks Brandy yeah we are out here uh just waiting in the Convoy area now most of the team is taking part in a safety briefing right now as we prepare to uh watch the deorbit burn and the re-entry and then move in toward the spacecraft like you mentioned it's really dark out here Josh and I were just able to take in the really beautiful sight of uh the Milky Way it's so dark so once the capsule starts to reenter the Earth's atmosphere we expect we expect to have a pretty good view of the street um as that plasma builds up around the capsule itself that's right we should be seeing it come just over the Southwest Horizon right through the saddle of kind of the mountains uh that are just overlooking the mountain range here and uh remembering back to of1 kind of the view that we should be having here is that we'll hear the Sonic booms as well after we see kind of that plasma envelope and then pretty quickly afterward it is pretty remarkable how quickly it does end up over our heads uh we'll see the flashes from uh the mortars uh which deploy those uh Ford heat shield parachutes which take the the Ford heat shield off um then we start hearing those mortors or those mortars and then the the uh parachutes start to deploy um and then it's kind of slow motion from there as it drifts down and we're seeing a lot of movement as teams have just completed that safety briefing here so they're now all walking to join us at the Convoy so it looks like we are just a few minutes away from the deorbit burn and the show is really getting on the road soon so with that we're going to turn it back over to you in Houston we are uh just over two minutes away from the deorbit burn at this point uh Starliner has moved well away from the International Space Station and quite a few kilometers ahead of it as well we had a number of uh smaller Burns to ensure that Starliner was at a safe distance away from the space station before it performs performs the deorbit burn that will bring it out of orbit and on its Journey back to Earth and flight director Rick henfling and his team expect starliners orbital maneuvering attitude control thrusters also called omx to fire around 10:17 central time pushing the spacecraft out of its orbital flight path and onto its journey home this deorbit burn will set us up for a touchdown time of about 11:00 p.m. central or 1000 p.m. Mountain Daylight time out there in White Sands New Mexico once it's there control teams in Houston will begin powering off starliners radiators and solar rays as the spacecraft now has enough power to get home and sublimator will be taking over cooling they use water to cool the cabin Starliner is also uh as we said now in the correct attitude for performing the deorbit burn and at this point service module and crew capsule are still attached to each other for of the service modules 12 AF facing orbital maneuvering and attitude control engines are going to be powering the deal burn allowing them to separate safely and those engines are each 1500lb thrusters meaning this burn will take about 6,000 lbs of thrust slowing Starliner from its current orbital velocity and bringing it back to Earth's atmosphere for a smooth Landing the small reaction control system or RCS thrusters assist here in holding Starliner in the correct attitude during this test flight our teams ran roughly a million computer mod model simulations showing all the different Thruster combinations possible for a safe return to Earth today just 20 seconds now until the burn starts it last uh 59 seconds and again you uh be firing those orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters for orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters on starlander service module are now firing slowing Starliner down as a capsule against its Journey back to Earth this will take about 59 seconds to complete we're hearing a good all good uh all thrusters firing well so far can see here those uh those representation of those thrusters firing Starliner maintaining its attitude and as those large orbital maneuvering thrusters are firing smaller reaction control system thrusters are also working keeping the spacecraft in the correct position for the burn still looking good and we did see the uh durber burn cut off successfully teams here on the ground reporting a good burn Starliner is now on its way to wh sand space Harbor New Mexico and a planned touchdown at about 11:00 p.m. central midnight Eastern Time next up on the uh to-do list for tonight is the separation of the service module when the service module job done it'll be disposed of over the Pacific Ocean leaving the uncrewed crew module to carry on alone in addition to all its other jobs the service module has spent the flight protecting the crew module's heat shield jetting it uncovers that critical piece of equipment allowing it to shelter the spacecraft as it begins traveling back through the Earth's atmosphere the crew module will then make its final attitude adjustments to make sure the heat shield is at exactly the right angle to provide that protection and those fine-tuned adjustments are really just a strong capability of Starliner guidance navigation and control system in fact on the two previous flights Starliner made Bullseye Landings thanks to that system Starliner maneuvering into position for that jettison at this time team here on the ground reporting that uh Starliner is in a good attitude pointing the right direction for the service module separation and the service module has just jettisoned separated and is now falling away it will burn up during re-entry over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean and Starliner will continue on its path to New Mexico where the landing and Recovery team is waiting for Touchdown Starliner is now angling itself and its heat shield for re-entry the entry interface is coming up in just about 10 minutes that's the hottest part of of the re-entry process with Starliner heat shield reaching about 3,000 de to protect Starliner from those heat loads the spacecraft has what's called an ablative heat shield the outer surface of that Shield heats up to a gas which then carries the heat away from the crew module through convection and our team calls this process a game of Threes because during entry interface the heat shield will handle those temperatures of about 3,000 de but it will convert that heat to about 300° with only