NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
A Boeing official said Thursday that the company has “canceled” plans to launch the Starliner spacecraft on July 21 to focus on a recently discovered problem with the spacecraft.
Starliner vice president and program manager Mark Nappi said two problems with the spacecraft were discovered before Memorial Day weekend and that the company used his time off to investigate them. Boeing has decided to postpone a test flight to carry NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Willmore to the International Space Station after an internal discussion involving Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun. bottom.
“Safety has always been our number one priority and that is the driving force behind this decision,” Nappi said on a conference call with reporters.
two problems
That the problem was discovered weeks before the Starliner was scheduled to launch on an Atlas V rocket seems pretty serious. The first is the “soft link” of the line that runs from the starliner to the parachute. Boeing has discovered that these are not as powerful as previously believed.
In normal flight, substandard links like this are not a problem. However, the Starliner’s parachute system is designed to allow the crew to land safely even if one of the three parachutes fails. However, these soft links have a low load limit at break, so if one parachute breaks, the extra strain can break the line between the spacecraft and her two remaining parachutes.
The second issue concerns the P-213 glass cloth tape that wraps around the wiring harness throughout the vehicle. These cables are strung everywhere, and these wiring harnesses are hundreds of feet long, Nappi said. The tape is intended to protect the wiring from scratches. However, during recent testing, it was found that this tape is flammable under certain conceivable circumstances during flight.
uncertain slippage
In 2014, NASA chose two providers, Boeing and SpaceX, to develop a crew transportation system for astronauts to travel to the space station. SpaceX completed its first manned flight in 2020 and has since flown nine more manned missions. Boeing has so far conducted two unmanned test flights of the Starliner and is aiming to complete a demonstration flight with astronauts this summer.
It is currently unknown when this “crew flight test” will take place. Nappi said the 2023 flight was “feasible,” but declined to give a date. “I never want to commit to a date or duration,” he said.
Boeing plans to delve deeper into these issues over the next few weeks to identify avenues for addressing these and other issues. For example, Nappi also said Boeing found another stuck valve when it was preparing to load the Starliner with propellant ahead of its flight in July. Valves continue to be a problem on Starliner spacecraft.
independent review?
Perhaps the Starliner will experience another significant delay on this test flight. These new issues may add to the concerns of outside observers about Boeing’s safety culture. last weekNASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Committee has asked NASA to bring in an independent expert to assess Starliner’s feasibility.
Commission Chair Patricia Sanders said on May 25, “Given the many challenges that remain for Starliner certification, NASA is taking a step back to carefully consider the remaining work on the flight CFT. I strongly recommend that you consider it.” She believes NASA should convene an independent team, such as the NASA Engineering Safety Center, to “thoroughly investigate items en route to closure.”
That is Before I have a recent problem. No doubt safety experts would be concerned that these issues weren’t discovered by Boeing and NASA until the last few weeks before the flight.
The Commercial Crew program is funded through fixed price agreements. Boeing received a $4.2 billion award from NASA in 2014, but due to ongoing delays (originally Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon were scheduled to fly in 2017), Boeing has already received $900 million. You have cumulative billing on dollar earnings. Nappi said on Thursday it was too early to tell whether these issues would pose an additional financial burden to the program.
Questions have been raised as to whether Boeing will remain committed to the already loss-making Starliner program. The company has a contract with NASA to fly six missions after the Starliner vehicle is certified, but only after manned flight tests. Boeing has already received most of the $4.2 billion from NASA in milestone awards, so if it doesn’t fly astronauts for NASA, it will probably have to return some of that money. But the cost of flying these missions could be higher than the money Boeing has to pay back to NASA.
Asked whether there had been any talks with Boeing officials about exiting the civilian crew program, Mr. Nappy said, “We haven’t had any serious discussions about it.”