The Starliner spacecraft is finally ready for launch, with an expected launch date of May. Getting to this point has been difficult for Boeing’s crewed vehicle, which has endured a series of unfortunate delays over the years, the last of which were related to two major safety hazards discovered on the spacecraft.
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner will carry NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore to the International Space Station (ISS) by May 1.At a press conference on Friday, company representatives reiterated their commitment to Starliner parachute and protective tapewhich resulted in the last of several delays to the spacecraft’s launch.
Starliner was originally scheduled to launch a manned spacecraft on July 21, 2023. However, weeks before liftoff, the company announced it was halting launch attempts to address newly discovered issues with the crewed vehicle.
The first safety issue has to do with the payload capacity of the Starliner’s three parachutes, which are designed to land manned vehicles safely. The failure load limit of the fabric portion of the parachute was found to be lower than expected, meaning that if one parachute failed, the remaining two parachutes would be unable to slow the Starliner vehicle on its way to land in New Mexico.
The second issue involves hundreds of feet of protective tape used to cover wiring harnesses inside Starliner vehicles, which was found to be flammable. Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager for Boeing’s commercial crew program, said: “We inspected the vehicle and either removed the obstructions or placed them or found areas with tape that were less susceptible to this issue. Impact.” at a press conference on Friday. “We have removed nearly a mile of tape from the vehicle and have repaired approximately 85 to 90 percent of the areas of the vehicle where the tape was installed.”
The company has also developed a new parachute system that meets NASA safety standards. “We have closed all these [paperwork]we’re ready to take off,” Nappi said.
The upcoming flight marks Boeing’s first crewed mission to the International Space Station.This is also the first launch of Starliner since its unmanned test flight encountered an abnormality in May 2022. Thruster used for orbital maneuvers unexpectedly fails. During Starliner’s first unmanned test in 2019, Spacecraft fails to dock with International Space Stationfor further testing and troubleshooting.
It’s been a journey for Boeing, to put it mildly.The company belongs to $4.3 billion Contract with NASA Commercial Crew Program Transport astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station. NASA’s other commercial partner, SpaceX, has just returned its seventh astronaut to Earth after spending 199 days in space, marking another successful round trip to the International Space Station, while its industry rival Boeing still has passenger numbers of zero.
“It’s always difficult to fly into space,” Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said Friday. “Every launch vehicle and spacecraft always has challenges, so it’s very important for us to have a second transportation system.”
NASA has relied primarily on SpaceX to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. However, before the company developed Dragon, the space agency’s astronauts primarily flew on Russian Soyuz manned spacecraft. NASA is seeking commercial alternatives to launches from U.S. soil as the cost of Soyuz seats rises, amid rising tensions with Russia’s Russian space agency and a desire for autonomy in the space.
NASA still occasionally does Buy seats from Russia, but it prefers to work with business partners.Russia recently aborted Three astronauts, including NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, lifted off about 20 seconds before liftoff due to a drop in power supply voltage.
If Boeing’s Starliner eventually reaches the International Space Station with its crew, NASA can start relying on its two commercial partners for those orbital trips.
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