Boeing Starliner’s manned mission delayed again, now set for May 25: NASA
New Delhi: Boeing Starliner‘s historic crewed manned mission has been delayed yet again over a helium leak detected in one of the capsule’s thrusters, said NASA on Saturday.
The spacecraft, aiming to carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Indian-Origin Sunita Williams to the space station, is e
“NASA, @BoeingSpace, and @ulalaunch are now targeting no earlier than 3:09 pm ET May 25 for the launch of the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission,” NASA said in a post on X.com
“Teams will use the additional time to finalise next steps that address a stable helium leak on the #Starliner service module,” it added.
After facing several delays over the years, Starliner’s first crewed mission was planned on May 7.
However, it was scrubbed two hours before launch, due to a valve issue on the upper stage of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
The mission then slipped to May 10, and later May 21, due to a helium leak.
NASA officials performed a pressure testing on May 15 on the Starliner’s helium system, which showed that “the leak in the flange is stable and would not pose a risk at that level during the flight”.
“The testing also indicated the rest of the thruster system is sealed effectively across the entire service module,” NASA said.
Boeing said its “teams are working to develop operational procedures to ensure the system retains sufficient performance capability and appropriate redundancy during the flight”.
Meanwhile, the ULA Atlas V rocket and Boeing’s Starliner that was rolled back from the launch pad, remain in the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The astronauts Wilmore and Williams will remain quarantined in Houston as pre-launch operations progress.
The Starliner mission aims to carry astronauts and cargo for future NASA missions to low Earth orbit, and beyond.
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Boeing Starliner’s manned mission delayed again, now set for May 25: NASA
The spacecraft, set to carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Indian-origin Sunita Williams to the space station, is now expected to fly on May 25.Boeing Starliner test flight delayed until 2022
NASA said that the team behind OFT-2 “is working toward launch opportunities in the first half of 2022.”
xpected to fly on May 25.
A history of delays and design problems
But the Starliner program has been plagued with delays and design problems for several years.
It failed to reach the space station during its first mission in 2019 after its onboard clock, which was set incorrectly, caused a computer to fire the capsule’s engines too early. The spacecraft successfully docked with the space station during its second test flight in 2022, despite the failure of some thrusters during the launch.
Boeing then scrapped the planned launch of the Starliner’s first crewed flight last year, after company officials realized that adhesive tape used on the craft to wrap hundreds of yards of wiring was flammable, and lines connecting the capsule to its three parachutes appeared to be weaker than expected. The launch was delayed indefinitely.
The May 6 launch was scrubbed because of a faulty oxygen relief valve, NASA said.
Wilmore and Williams remain quarantined in Houston and will fly back to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida closer to the new launch date, NASA said. The Starliner, which sits atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, remains in the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Boeing has faced intense scrutiny this year on the commercial aviation side of its business after a rear door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight shortly after takeoff in January.
Whistleblowers have since come forward to detail alleged quality control lapses at the storied company, and the Federal Aviation Administration said it was auditing Boeing’s production. The Justice Department also announced it would open a criminal investigation into the Alaska Airlines incident.
The first crewed launch of Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft has been delayed again, to May 25, this time because of a helium leak in the service module.
NASA had set the liftoff for May 21 after scrubbing a May 6 launch but the helium leak was discovered on Wednesday. While the agency said the leak in the craft’s thruster system was stable and wouldn’t pose a risk during the flight, “Boeing teams are working to develop operational procedures to ensure the system retains sufficient performance capability and appropriate redundancy during the flight.”
While that work is going on, NASA said its Commercial Crew Program (CCP) and the International Space Station Program will review data and procedures before making a final determination whether to proceed with a countdown.
The delay is the latest for the Starliner’s first crewed mission, which will carry NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams to the International Space Station. The astronauts are to spend about a week aboard the space station before making a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern U.S.
If that mission is successful, NASA will begin the final process to certify Starliner for crewed rotation missions to the space station.
The delay comes roughly a decade after NASA awarded Boeing a more than $4 billion contract as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, which pays private companies to ferry astronauts to and from the space station after the space shuttle was retired in 2011.