At 6:49 p.m. ET, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft landed at its designated landing zone at the White Sands Space Harbor on the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Starliner completed all of its deorbit, reentry and landing maneuvers, bringing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) to a successful conclusion.
Recovery teams are commencing their recovery operations. They began their approach from a holding area roughly 0.5 kilometers (0.3 miles) from the center point of the landing zone. They are approaching the landed spacecraft in a convoy and will hold at a staging area approximately 500 feet from Starliner before beginning proximity operations.
Boeing’s Landing and Recovery Team (LRT) is composed of nine smaller subteams. These teams and their tasks are listed below in the order they will approach Starliner from the staging area at 500 feet:
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Gold Team: Conduct a hazard assessment to keep the rest of the convoy safe. They run a “sniff” test to check the spacecraft for any hypergolic propellant leaks, such as hydrazine, while placing toxic vapors monitors and installing thruster covers.
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Silver Team: Power down, ground, and stabilize the spacecraft. They then conduct a static discharge, then parachute recovery and jettison hardware retrieval.
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Blue Team: Capture imagery, setup broadcast equipment, and report live coverage for NASA TV. They are positioned 200 feet from the spacecraft to give viewers a direct shot of the Starliner’s side hatch.
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Green Team: Set up the environmental enclosure on the crew module and hook up ground cooling so the vehicle’s critical systems don’t overheat.
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Red Team: Lead the opening of the crew module hatch. This team is comprised mostly of Boeing fire rescue teammates. For crewed missions, the team will perform crew extrication, medical examination and support, contingency rescue, and assist with cargo unloading.
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Range: Support landing site range.
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Pink Team: Observe the operations. They are comprised mostly of astronauts, NASA leaders, and Boeing leaders.
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Orange Team: Hoist crew module and transport off-range, normally the next day.
- Recovery Ops Conductor (ROC) and Recovery Ops Lead (ROL): Provide air traffic control for the Landing and Recovery teams as they perform their tasks one by one.