The date for the long-awaited inaugural crewed mission of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has been postponed once again.
The first Starliner flight carrying astronauts was expected for this Tuesday (21), after two previous postponements this month, but the mission teams need more time to “complete the spacecraft closure processes and flight justification”, and now are planning the launch no earlier than 4:09 pm (Brasília time) on Saturday (25), according to a statement from NASA (United States space agency).
The update comes just days after Starliner teams reported a small helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module. They traced the leak to a single thruster part of the reaction control system, where helium is used to enable the thrusters to fire. Additional time before launch will give experts more opportunities to evaluate this issue, although tests so far have shown the leak does not pose a threat to the mission, according to NASA’s latest update.
“Pressure tests performed on May 15 on the spacecraft’s helium system showed that the flange leak is stable and would not pose a risk at this level during flight,” the space agency said in its press release. “Testing also indicated that the remainder of the thruster system is effectively sealed throughout the service module. Boeing teams are working to develop operational procedures to ensure the system maintains sufficient performance capability and adequate redundancy during flight.”
This mission, called the Crew Flight Test, could be the last major milestone before NASA considers the Boeing spacecraft ready for routine operations as part of the federal agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
The historic manned flight was about two hours away from launch on May 6 when it was canceled due to a problem with a valve in the second stage, or upper part, of the Atlas V rocket that will carry Starliner into space.
The NASA astronauts assigned to crew the mission for a weeklong stay at the International Space Station (ISS), Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, were in pre-flight quarantine but returned to Houston on May 10 to spend time with their families. families, Boeing said. Williams and Wilmore will return to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida closer to the new launch date, according to the space agency’s latest statement.
Boeing’s historic goals
The Crew Flight Test has been a decade in the making — the culmination of Boeing’s efforts to develop a spacecraft worthy of transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA’s commercial program.
The launch will mark just the sixth maiden voyage of a manned spacecraft in U.S. history, noted agency Administrator Bill Nelson at a press conference earlier this month.
“It started with Mercury, then Gemini, then Apollo, the space shuttle, then SpaceX’s (Dragon) — and now Starliner,” he said.
Boeing designed the Starliner to rival SpaceX’s prolific Crew Dragon capsule and expand U.S. options for transporting astronauts to the space station.
On board, Williams will also make history as the first woman to embark on such a mission.
A difficult start
Development problems, test flight problems and other costly setbacks have delayed Starliner’s path to the launch pad. Meanwhile, Boeing’s rival in NASA’s commercial program — SpaceX — has become the main provider of transportation for the space agency’s astronauts.
Williams and Wilmore were already in their seats aboard the Starliner capsule on May 6 when engineers encountered a problem and halted the launch.
The team at United Launch Alliance, which builds the Atlas V rocket, identified a pressure regulating valve on a liquid oxygen tank that needed to be replaced. The valve has already been replaced, but the latest problem with helium leaking into the Boeing spacecraft atop the rocket has caused yet another delay.
If the spacecraft launches next week as planned, it and the astronauts inside it will separate from the Atlas V rocket after reaching orbit, at which point the Starliner will begin firing its own engines. The rover will likely spend more than 24 hours gradually making its way to the space station.
Williams and Wilmore are expected to spend about a week in the orbiting laboratory, joining the seven astronauts and cosmonauts already on board, while the Starliner remains docked outside.
The historic crew will then return home aboard the same Starliner capsule, which is expected to land by parachute at one of several designated locations in the southwestern United States.
(CNN’s Jackie Wattles and Ashley Strickland contributed to this piece)
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