Boeing Starliner crew mission delayed once more over spacecraft situation

Washington | Boeing’s first Starliner mission to hold astronauts to area has been delayed as soon as once more — no less than till Might 21 — attributable to a problem with the spacecraft’s propulsion system, the corporate mentioned Tuesday.

The Starliner mission, carrying two NASA astronauts, was scheduled to take off from Florida final week, however was delayed to Friday, Might 17, attributable to a technical downside with its Atlas 5 rocket, which went as scheduled. The most recent postponement is years delayed and $1.5 billion over funds.

A brand new technical downside, now associated to the Starliner, has prompted one other postponement till no less than subsequent Tuesday, Boeing mentioned in an announcement.

“Starliner groups are working to resolve a small helium leak discovered within the spacecraft’s service module,” Boeing mentioned. Engineers traced the leak to a element on one of many propulsion system’s 28 management thrusters. Which is used for maneuvering within the Earth’s orbit.

Boeing has been creating Starliner for greater than a decade to offer NASA with a second American spacecraft able to ferrying astronauts to and from the Worldwide House Station. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, constructed underneath the identical NASA program, despatched astronauts to area for the primary time in 2020.

Starliner’s newest mission, referred to as the Crewed Flight Check, is ready to be the ultimate check earlier than the U.S. area company certifies the spacecraft to fly common astronaut missions to the ISS. Boeing plans to finish an uncrewed Starliner journey to the ISS in 2022 after years of technical and administration points.

NASA officers and Boeing engineers will run exams and try to repair the helium leak earlier than the following attainable launch window on Might 21 at 4:43 p.m. ET (2043 GMT). Helium is used to pressurize the gas on Starliner that powers the spacecraft’s thrusters for orbital maneuvering.

An Atlas 5 rocket, constructed by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a three way partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, launches Starliner into area. Earlier than trying to launch Starliner final week, ULA found a defective valve on Atlas 5 and eliminated the rocket from the launchpad to interchange the valve.

Starliner’s sensors first detected suspicious traces of helium contained in the propulsion system when the spacecraft was on the launchpad final week, in line with an individual briefed on mission operations, however these traces supplied no clues for engineers on the time. Didn’t trigger concern.