Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
Boeing’s inaugural astronaut mission for its Starliner spacecraft has been postponed by an additional four days, shifting the target liftoff to May 25.
Initially scheduled for May 21, the Crew Flight Test (CFT) was rescheduled due to a small helium leak detected in the spacecraft’s service module, necessitating further assessment. The mission will utilize a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket, lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The delay allows teams to investigate a helium leak traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster in the Starliner spacecraft’s service module. Pressure testing conducted on May 15 indicated that the leak in the flange is stable and should not pose a risk during the flight. Boeing is developing operational procedures to ensure the thruster system retains sufficient performance capability and redundancy during the flight.
Starliner and its rocket remain in an assembly building while astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, currently in quarantine in Houston, will return to Florida’s Space Coast closer to the target launch date.
The original launch date of May 6 was scrubbed due to a valve issue in the Atlas V’s upper stage, leading to the replacement of the valve. Moreover, Boeing Starliner program is currently about four years behind schedule. While there isn’t a single starting point to definitively measure the delay, missions originally planned for 2018 haven’t flown yet.
Boeing has been under scrutiny following two fatal crashes of their 737 MAX jets in 2018 and 2019. These accidents raised questions about the plane’s safety and led to a grounding of the model worldwide. In last few months more than a dozen near miss incidents were reported in Boeing aircrafts as well. More recently, the deaths of two whistleblowers, John Barnett and Joshua Dean, who raised concerns about Boeing’s manufacturing practices, have added another layer of complexity to the situation. The circumstances surrounding their deaths have sparked questions about retaliation and whistleblower protection.
Boeing’s Starliner, developed under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, aims to join SpaceX’s Dragon capsule in ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station.