Boeing\u00a0and NASA are moving forward with the launch of the company\u2019s Starliner capsule, set to carry U.S. astronauts for the first time, despite a \u201cstable\u201d leak in the spacecraft\u2019s propulsion system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are comfortable with the causes that we\u2019ve identified for this specific leak,\u201d Mark Nappi, Boeing vice president and manager of the company\u2019s Commercial Crew program, said during a press conference on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know we can manage this [leak], so this is really not a safety of flight issue,\u201d Nappi added.<\/p>\n
Boeing is now targeting June 1 for the first crewed launch of its spacecraft, with backup opportunities on June 2, June 5 and June 6.<\/p>\n
The mission, known as the Starliner Crew Flight Test, is intended to serve as the final major development test of the capsule by delivering a pair of NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station before flying routine missions.<\/p>\n
Starliner\u2019s crew debut has been delayed\u00a0by years, with SpaceX\u2019s competing Dragon capsule flying astronauts for NASA regularly since 2020 under the agency\u2019s Commercial Crew program. To date,\u00a0Boeing has eaten $1.5 billion in costs\u00a0due to Starliner setbacks, in addition to nearly $5 billion of NASA development funds.<\/p>\n
NASA and Boeing called off a launch attempt on May 6 about two hours before liftoff due to an issue detected with the Atlas V rocket that will lift Starliner into orbit. Atlas V is built and operated by United Launch Alliance, or ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and\u00a0Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n
During the press conference Friday, a ULA official noted that the rocket\u2019s problematic valve was replaced a week after the launch was postponed.<\/p>\n
But after calling off the launch attempt, a \u201csmall\u201d helium leak with Starliner was identified, causing Boeing and NASA to begin new assessments of the capsule and its safety for the mission. NASA Associate Administrator Ken Bowersox, one of the agency\u2019s most senior officials, explained to the press on Friday that \u201cit\u2019s taken a while for us to be ready to discuss\u201d the helium leak problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so complicated. There\u2019s so many things going on. We really just needed to work through it as a team,\u201d Bowersox said.<\/p>\n
After analysis, NASA and Boeing believe the source of the leak is a seal in one of the flanges of the spacecraft\u2019s helium propulsion system. In testing after the May 6 postponement, NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich said that teams \u201chave seen that the leak rate isn\u2019t changing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stich explained that the plan is to monitor the leak in the lead-up to launch and, after reaching the International Space Station, reassess the leak rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t expect the other [seals] to leak, and I think that\u2019s a confidence that we have,\u201d Stich said.<\/p>\n
Stich also emphasized that NASA has \u201cflown vehicles with small helium leaks\u201d before, including \u201ca couple of cases\u201d from missions flown by the Space Shuttle and SpaceX\u2019s Dragon.<\/p>\n
NASA, Boeing and ULA will hold another review on May 29 to review the leak. They plan to roll the rocket and capsule out to the launch pad on May 30 for the June 1 attempt.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Boeing\u00a0and NASA are moving forward with the launch of the company\u2019s Starliner capsule, set to carry U.S. astronauts for the first time, despite a \u201cstable\u201d leak in the spacecraft\u2019s propulsion system. \u201cWe are comfortable with the causes that we\u2019ve identified for this specific leak,\u201d Mark Nappi, Boeing vice president and manager of the company\u2019s Commercial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4864,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}