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   Ross of Ottawa (ottaross@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jun-2024 05:14:32 JST Ross of Ottawa

   Just realized the #Starliner should be getting close to docking at the ISS.

   Checked in and indeed it's approaching now.

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     Ross of Ottawa (ottaross@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jun-2024 05:14:30 JST Ross of Ottawa

     in reply to

     I've been following the starliner docking in the background. The crew has finally come through the hatch and everyone is happy.

     Enough for me, the speeches & ceremony are likely very skipable.

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     Ross of Ottawa (ottaross@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jun-2024 05:14:31 JST Ross of Ottawa

     in reply to

     Maybe they should take a chance and 'stir the oxygen tanks.' #Gulp

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     Ross of Ottawa (ottaross@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jun-2024 05:14:31 JST Ross of Ottawa

     in reply to

     Wondering if, given the reaction control thruster probs, they may abort the ISS docking, to minimize risks to the space station and decide to return early.

     Not sure if the #Starliner has a 'grapple' point on it to allow the Canadarm manipulator to grab it and ram it into a docking port. (or something more subtle).

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     Ross of Ottawa (ottaross@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jun-2024 05:14:31 JST Ross of Ottawa

     in reply to

     Sounds like success for the #StarLiner docking so far.

     I just tuned in again to the NASA feed while I do some benchtop work. Some nice background chatter about the progress.

     (Plus the NASA team doesn't find it necessary to whoop and cheer every two minutes).

     Seems they've confirmed 'soft' capture and are moving toward the hard lock, where everything is latched and bolted down for the docking procedure.

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     Ross of Ottawa (ottaross@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jun-2024 05:14:32 JST Ross of Ottawa

     in reply to

     Aha - sounds like the #Starliner is about 260m away from the ISS.

     Looks closer than that, but it's hard to judge distances without familiar objects for scale.

     Rule one of space travel – there are no bananas in space.

     #bananaForScale

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     Ross of Ottawa (ottaross@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 07-Jun-2024 05:14:32 JST Ross of Ottawa

     in reply to

     Sounds like they must be having some issues with a few of the positioning thrusters on the #Starliner

     They're doing test firings and it sounds like sometimes they don't get what they expect.

     I hope they have a hammer on board. They might need a whack or two.