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Courier Flight Test 3, (also known as Courier FT-3 and CTS-2B), was the third test flight of a Courier C/SM, the crew vehicle of the International Partnered Space Agenda (IPSA). It was the second flight of the Courier C/SM 1020 configuration and also the third flight of the Hermes C-I 121 configuration.
The launch, on November 6, 2023, was the first Hermes launch from the ILC H-22 pad on Ominke Atoll. It was also the first launch from H-22 since the close of the Daedalus Program. ILC H-21 had been closed in order to incorporate “last-minute” modifications needed for manned spaceflights utilizing it, with such modifications ranging from upgrades to the Crew Access Am (CAA), which had never been used, to installation of the Emergency Egress System (EES). H-21 wouldn’t be used for another launch until CTS-6 in 2025. H-22, however, had already been modified for crew launches.
The launch of FT-3 wasn’t even originally planned, but was a contingency mission; the Hermes and Courier were intended for the CTS-4 mission but were undergoing testing at Ominke. Due to fears that the FT-2 flight might not go according to plan, the Courier and Hermes were prepped for launch. The CTS-4 mission hardware had actually been in flux, because it was “supposedly” being tested for its planned 2025 launch but was actually being readied for the FT-3 launch prior to it even being needed. IPSA has not yet produced a satisfactory explanation as to why this may be, though an outside commenter noted that “IPSA probably expected/were hoping that FT-2 to fail in order to have an excuse for more flights”.
Regardless, the Hermes C-I used for the mission had been checked and moved to ILC H-22 since before the launch of FT-2. The vehicle was rolled back on October 9 in order to modify its Courier with several design changes meant to mitigate the issues on FT-2.
The SM had new software relating to management of its propulsion system as well to the post-CM separation maneuvers. The Service Module Main Propulsion System (MPS) fuel line was also strengthened.
The mission was virtually identical to the Courier FT-3 flight that proceeded it; the 121 configuration would lift off with a functional Courier C/SM on a two week flight. Notably, this flight did not carry “crew simulators” like those on FT-2; rather, it carried pressurized experiments in the Command Module (CM). This was primarily because the CM was considered to be flight proven component. Notably, the mere fact that IPSA even had experiments configured and readied for use on the FT-3 flight made the “explanation” that the Courier had been for the CTS-4 flight a moot point.
The Courier SM had arrived on March 15, 2023, before the launch of CTS-1, the previous mission.
On October 29, only 20 days after it was rolled back, Courier Flight Test 3 once again rolled out to the International Launch Complex H-22.
The launch on November 6 placed the C-I and C/SM into a nearly circular 100-nautical-mile (190 km) parking orbit. The launch was perfect during the early phases of ascent, but just prior to first stage jettison, the Instrument Unit (IU) suffered a power surge, an anomaly that fortunately didn’t compromise its functions. The Common Core Stage Reentry Assessment (CCSRA-1A), mounted in the CCS’ Instrument Unit, however, was damaged and didn’t record any readable data. CCSRA-1 had previously flown on the Courier FT-2 mission a performed as expected.
The HC-I upper stage experienced some slight underperformance during its burn, ultimately resulting in a burn 30 seconds longer than a nominal one. This anomaly was later determined to have been a manufacturing defect in the L-2 engine and was not related the IU’s anomaly.
After two orbits to check out the spacecraft, the Courier separated from the C-I upper stage and began its free flight tests for the next fourteen days.
One of the first activities was to test the MPS with a full duration reentry burn. This was done in a forward facing attitude, so the burn would actually raise the Courier’s orbit. The test burn was successful, though the orbit was slightly higher as a result of unexpected over-performance from the MPS.
A large portion of the flight was various testing of the propulsion system, which had had some serious issues on the FT-2 flight. Unlike on the FT-2 fight, engineers took some liberties with the spacecraft, given that it was performing well within propellant mass margins and was working beautifully. On November 17, they took it only 20m from the discarded C-I stage in order to test out autonomous docking and rendezvous technique that would be needed in the future. While there were further plans to bring it even closer, these were ultimately abandoned when the C-I began to respond intermittently to commands being sent to it.
The early phase of the flight was a success and the Courier was prepared for reentry.
The first reentry attempt, on November 20, was aborted due to what was thought to be a minor computer failure on the Courier. As it turned out, a pressurized experiment had not been properly turned off and was drawing extra power; an action the Courier’s main computer had noticed and responded appropriately to. The reentry attempt was subsequently aborted.
The next day, November 21, was the next planned reentry attempt. Telemetry from the Courier, however, indicated that a mechanism for the parachute container was malfunctioning, which would’ve resulted in a possible parachute deploy failure and a resulting destruction of the CM when it impacted the ocean. IPSA controllers chose to continue the attempt, given that Courier may have misdiagnosed an actual, less serious problem and, more importantly, because if it was really a malfunction in the parachute mechanism (which is a critical component), the Courier would’ve been destroyed regardless and there would have been no point in delaying the attempt. As it was later revealed during post-mission processing and evaluation, the malfunction was actually in a noncritical auxiliary parachute heater, instead of the actual parachute mechanism.
At 5:07PM UTC, the command was given to begin the reentry burn. The MPS successfully conducted the reentry burn, placing the Courier on a reentry path back to Ominke. The burn was picture perfect, with no malfunctioning components – as there had been on FT-2 – interfering.
Then, the SM was jettisoned from the CM, with the SM autonomously maneuvering away from the CM.
The CM conducted flawlessly during the reentry.
The CM landed approximately 19.3 nautical miles (35.7 km) from the target landing site west of the IPSA Ominke Atoll operations site in the Pacific Ocean, only 1.2 km from its planned touchdown point. Its descent was not visible from the prime recovery ship, owing to last minute cloud cover which had appeared.
IPSA deemed the mission a complete success, paving the way for the next Courier flight, CTS-3, to be IPSA’s first independent manned spaceflight.
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