Boeing finds two severe issues with Starliner simply weeks earlier than launch

A Boeing official mentioned Thursday that the corporate was “standing down” from an try and launch the Starliner spacecraft on July 21 to give attention to lately found points with the automobile.

Mark Nappi, vp and program supervisor for Starliner, mentioned two spacecraft issues have been found earlier than Memorial Day weekend and that the corporate spent the vacation investigating them. After inside discussions that included Boeing chief government Dave Calhoun, the corporate determined to delay the check flight that may carry NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the International Space Station.

“Safety is all the time our prime precedence, and that drives this determination,” Nappi mentioned throughout a teleconference with reporters.

Two points

The points appear moderately severe to have been found weeks earlier than Starliner was on account of launch on an Atlas V rocket. The first entails “smooth hyperlinks” within the strains that run from Starliner to its parachutes. Boeing found that these weren’t as sturdy as beforehand believed.

During a standard flight, these substandard hyperlinks wouldn’t be a problem. But Starliner’s parachute system is designed to land a crew safely in case one of many three parachutes fails. However, as a result of decrease failure load restrict with these smooth hyperlinks, if one parachute fails, it is potential the strains between the spacecraft and its remaining two parachutes would snap as a result of additional pressure.

The second concern entails P-213 glass fabric tape that’s wrapped round wiring harnesses all through the automobile. These cables run in every single place, and Nappi mentioned there are a whole lot of toes of those wiring harnesses. The tape is meant to guard the wiring from nicks. However, throughout latest exams, it was found that beneath sure circumstances potential in flight, this tape is flammable.

Uncertain slippage

In 2014 NASA selected two suppliers, Boeing and SpaceX, to develop crew transport methods for its astronauts to journey to the area station. SpaceX accomplished its first human flight in 2020 and has since flown 9 extra crewed missions. Boeing has flown two uncrewed check flights of Starliner so far and aimed to finish its demonstration flight with astronauts this summer time.

Now it’s unclear when this “Crew Flight Test” will happen. Nappi mentioned it was “possible” for the mission to fly in 2023, however he didn’t need to provide any dates. “I actually would not need to decide to any dates or timeframes,” he mentioned.

Boeing will spend the following few weeks diving deeper into these points and figuring out a path ahead to deal with these and different issues. For instance, Nappi additionally mentioned that, as Boeing was getting ready to load propellant on Starliner forward of the July flight, it discovered one other sticky valve. Valves have been an ongoing downside with the Starliner spacecraft.

Independent evaluate?

Most seemingly, Starliner will see one other vital delay on this check flight. These new issues are prone to ratchet up considerations from exterior observers in regards to the security tradition at Boeing. Last week, NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel urged NASA to herald impartial consultants to evaluate the viability of Starliner.

“Given the number of remaining challenges to certification of Starliner, we strongly encourage NASA to step back and take a measured look at the remaining body of work with respect to flying CFT,” Patricia Sanders, chair of the committee, mentioned on May 25. She believes NASA ought to usher in an impartial staff, resembling from the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, “to take a deep look at the items on the path to closure.”

That was earlier than the latest points cropped up. Doubtless, security consultants will likely be involved about how these points went undiscovered by Boeing and NASA till the ultimate weeks main as much as the flight.

The Commercial Crew program is being funded by a fixed-price contract. Boeing obtained a $4.2 billion award from NASA in 2014, however on account of ongoing delays—initially, Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon have been purported to fly in 2017—Boeing has already taken cumulative prices towards its earnings of $900 million. Nappi mentioned Thursday that it’s too early to say if these points will end in extra monetary prices to this system.

Questions have been raised about whether or not Boeing will stay dedicated to the Starliner program, which is already a cash loser. The firm is contracted to fly six missions for NASA after certification of the Starliner automobile, which is able to solely happen after the crewed flight check. Boeing has already obtained a lot of the $4.2 billion from NASA in milestone awards, so it presumably must give a few of that cash again if it didn’t fly astronauts for NASA. But the price of flying these missions could also be larger than any funding Boeing must pay again to NASA.

Asked if Boeing officers had any discussions about pulling out of the industrial crew program, Nappy replied: “Not severe discussions about that.”