Watch: Boeing Drop Tests Starliner Spacecraft Parachute System

FighterSweep Staff 2 Comments Boeing, NASA, News, Space, Video

Boeing is working through a series of ‘drop tests’ for the parachute system on the Starliner spacecraft which makes for some spectacular video!

During the test, the Starliner was lifted about 40,000 feet in the air, the flying altitude of a typical commercial airline flight, by a Near Space Corp. helium balloon and then released over the White Sands Missile Range, next door to Spaceport America.

“Completion of this test campaign will bring Boeing and NASA one step closer to launching astronauts on an American vehicle and bringing them home safely,” said Mark Biesack, spacecraft systems lead for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.- NASA Spaceflight

This test was a little different with the use of a helium balloon instead of a helicopter or aircraft. The Starliner reportedly would not fit properly inside the cargo hold of a C-130 or C-17.

Featured image of Boeing Starliner Spacecraft Parachutes Opening by Boeing/NASA

mrsatyre

I’m a little baffled why this vehicle exists. Both the Starliner and the Orion are completely configurable in terms of crew complement and cargo for long and short duration flights. I keep asking this and keep getting the same non-answer “Different missions.” If they can both be modified for different uses, why do we need both? It’s like the Lockheed Martin T-50A proposal to the USAF as the next generation fighter trainer: the T-50A is based on the T-50 (or even the FA-50), which is itself based on the F-16. The T-50 is even used to train F-16 pilots in foreign nations such as Pakistan. If the T-50 is analogous to the F-16, but the F-16 (an infinitely more established design with international manufacturing and logistics support already in place) is the better plane, then why are we being asked to spend billions on a program for a plane not as good as an F-16, instead of buying more two-seater F-16s to train next generation fighter pilots?
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  Well, I can’t comment on your Starliner/Orion question, but the trainer question does have an answer. A trainer, as you know, is not a fighter. The T-50 is smaller, slower, and less powerful than an F-16. It also does not need the endurance of an F-16, nor the sophisticated electronics of the fighter. Time magazine reports that the 18 current F-16s being sold to Iraq have a price tag of US$165 million each (yes, more than the F-35). Even a couple of years ago, Lockheed was quoting a price of US$100+ million each for F-16 sales to foreign buyers. The latest figure I see for the T-50 is US$30 million each. So, one can buy 3 T-50s for the price of 1 F-16. If you prefer the F-16, you are welcome to do so, and the USAF prefers to buy a cheaper trainer. Different missions.