Boeing’s $1.5 billion Starliner spacecraft carrying two astronauts will finally lift off today despite gas leak

BOEING is set to finally get its shot at space stardom today as the company’s long-delayed mission prepares to lift off.

Starliner has been marred by setbacks and its most recent attempt was canceled just hours before launch due to safety concerns.

3

3

This problem was resolved, but engineers found a helium leak.

After further investigation, it was decided that the mission could proceed independently.

“We can deal with this specific leak if the leak rate grows up to 100 times,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, according to AFP.

Two NASA astronauts will take a ride on the Starliner towards the International Space Station (ISS).

They include Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, a retired Navy captain who has spent about 178 days in space since his first of two space missions in 2009.

He will be joined by pilot Suni Williams, 58, a former Navy test pilot with experience flying 30 different aircraft and 322 days spent in space on two missions since her first flight in 2007.

They will spend about a week on the ISS.

But Boeing hopes the spacecraft will eventually transport humans to Mars.

The aerospace giant has long been involved in NASA’s manned spacecraft program, receiving more than $4 billion to develop and fly the Starliner in 2014.

Boeing is competing with companies like SpaceX to provide equipment for future NASA missions and has spent nearly $600 million to fix engineering setbacks caused by previous accidents.

The Starliner is expected to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 12:25pm ET/5:25pm BST.

If there is another reason to abort, there are other launch opportunities available on Sunday (June 2), Wednesday (June 5), and Thursday (June 6).

Here we go again…

Analysis by Jamie Harris, senior technology and science reporter at The Sun

Boeing didn’t really have much luck with its first manned space launch, but it looks like they’re finally going to have some good news.

The company attempted to send an unmanned Starliner to the ISS in 2019, but failed due to a series of problems – not to mention the disruption caused by the pandemic – and returned to Earth early.

A second unmanned test took place well into 2022, but a year later, experts discovered new problems that delayed a launch carrying astronauts.

Of course, safety comes first, so it’s a necessary step.

Experts working on the billion-dollar project tried to minimize the delay.

“I don’t find it frustrating at all,” Boeing program manager Mark Nappi recently told the press.

“We would have liked to have gone further at this point. There’s no doubt about that. But we’re here, prepared and ready to fly.”

Space is also an expensive business, so Boeing – and NASA – need this mission to succeed.

The development problems cost the company a whopping $1.5 billion in fees, as well as about $325 million for NASA in incentives for Boeing’s $4.2 billion fixed-price Starliner contract, according to records of titles and hiring data reviewed by Reuters.

NASA also needs this to work if it wants to keep up with China, which is making huge advances to the Moon and beyond.