Boeing’s Starliner Launch Has Been Postponed Again, Probably Until Next Year


Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has been recalled to the factory due to sticky valves.

The Starliner was designed to take NASA astronauts to the International Space Station and is already years behind schedule. Earlier problems with the spacecraft additional financial losses to Boeing’s balance sheet.

Friday’s announcement means the capsule will be removed from the Atlas 5 rocket at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and returned to Boeing’s factory at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The uncrewed demonstration flight scheduled for completion will be delayed for at least two months and possibly next year. And that will further delay Boeing’s first flight with the astronauts.

“This is a frankly disappointing day,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA’s associate director of human research and operations, at a phone press conference. “But I want to emphasize that this is just another example of why these demo missions are so important to us.”

Crew Dragon, a similar spacecraft built by SpaceX for NASA, has already carried astronauts to the space station. three times since last year, and can carry two more crews into orbit before the end of 2021.

The Starliner was originally supposed to take off from the space station without the astronauts on July 30 – a repeat of an earlier flight to validate the spacecraft’s systems – and then return to Earth about a week later. This launch date, however, is due to a new Russian module, Nauka, after a mishap on the space station. he inadvertently fired his thrusters and sent the station into a turn.

The next launch opportunity was August 3, and the rocket with the Starliner on it was on the launch pad the night before a severe storm hit. During the next day’s countdown, the 13 valves used in the Starliner’s propulsion system did not open and launch canceled.

In the troubleshooting days that followed, engineers were able to operate nine of the 13 valves, but four remained stuck.

“If we could release them all, we would be in good operational condition,” said John Vollmer, Boeing’s vice president and Starliner program manager. “We were shooting for it, but frankly, we decided we just got off the track and had to go back to the factory because we didn’t get all the valves.”

Mr Vollmer said the problem occurred between the 24 valves that control the flow of nitrogen tetroxide, a propellant used by the Starliner’s thrusters. Mr. Vollmer said some of the nitrogen tetroxide went through the Teflon seals and interacted with the moisture on the other side to form nitric acid.

“This nitric acid caused some corrosion which caused these valves to harden,” said Mr. Vollmer.

Mr Vollmer said that the design of the valves has not changed since the Starliner’s first launch in December 2019. scammed by major software flaws that prevented it from reaching the space stationled Boeing and NASA to decide that a refurbishment was necessary before confirming that the Starliner was ready to carry astronauts. However, the hardware, including the valves, worked almost flawlessly during the shortened 2019 trip.

“We did not see this problem in the past and we do now,” said Mr Vollmer. He said engineers now need to figure out what’s different – maybe weather conditions including storm soaks, maybe something in the manufacture of the valves. He said he didn’t think the rain was seeping directly into the valves.

The Starliner launch will now occur after the launch of NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, which will set out to study gravitationally trapped Trojan asteroids in Jupiter’s orbit. Alignment of the planets, Lucy’s Launch over a three-week period from mid-October to early November. If he misses this window, the next opportunity will be next year.

When the Starliner returns to Boeing’s facility at Kennedy Space Center, engineers will first figure out what they need to take apart to repair the valves. Mr Vollmer said it was too early to predict how long the fixes would take or when the spacecraft would return to the launch pad.

“It’s probably too early to tell if it’s this year,” he said. “I definitely hope it happens as soon as possible. And if we could fly this year, it would be great.”



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