Weekly - Boeing Starliner returns to earth empty and more
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Boeing Starliner returns to Earth empty
The infamous Starliner spacecraft by Boeing put 2 astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore in the ISS on June 5th. It was supposed to bring them back 8 days later but due to numerous gas leaks and malfunctioning thrusters, the return was delayed for months until NASA decided that the craft would come back to earth empty and the astronauts would return in 2025 on a SpaceX craft. Last week, Starliner detached itself from the ISS and made a safe return to Earth. All went smoothly and there were no malfunctions, but it was a safe decision by NASA to not take a risk.
Mysterious Chinese spaceplane lands after 8 months
Last week, Chinese sources reported that the mysterious reusable spaceplane that they have been developing for the past few years has successfully returned to Earth after nearly 8 months in orbit. No one knows what the plane’s capabilities are, nor what it looks like or even its name. Using data from spacecraft trackers on the ground, all that we know is that the plane deployed a small object in orbit, and tested its RPO capabilities, which allow a craft to get close to the object and meet up with it. According to space.com:
These operations can be used to repair or perform upkeep on friendly satellites, and it is believed that military superpowers are refining these techniques to potentially tamper with adversary satellites during any future orbital combat.
BepiColombo captures first images of Mercury’s south pole
The BepiColombo mission was a collaboration between Europe and Japan and was launched in 2018 to explore the smallest planet in the solar system: Mercury. It is expected to reach its final orbit and begin full-scale operations by 2026, but last week, it managed to capture the first-ever image of Mercury’s south pole, taken during its 4th flyby of the planet.
