The agency announced today (Feb. 19) that it has reclassified Starliner’s Crew Flight Test (CFT) as a “Type A mishap” — the most serious kind, in the same category as the space shuttle Challenger and Columbia tragedies.
“This was a really challenging event in our recent history,” NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said during a press conference today, which highlighted the findings of a report into CFT and its issues. “We almost did have a really terrible day.”
Starliner reached the orbiting lab safely. On the way, however, the spacecraft suffered multiple thruster failures and temporarily lost “six degree of freedom” control — the ability to precisely maintain its desired orientation and trajectory.
“Flight rules were appropriately challenged, control was recovered and docking was achieved,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during today’s press conference, reading from a letter that he said he had just sent to all NASA employees.
But, he added, “it is worth restating what should be obvious: At that moment, had different decisions been made, had thrusters not been recovered, or had docking been unsuccessful, the outcome of this mission could have been very, very different.”
What a mess.