Boeing's first-ever crewed mission in Starliner ISS spacecraft delayed to late July - The Register

Boeing's debut Starliner spacecraft launch carrying its first-ever crew of astronauts to the International Space Station is being postponed again, and is not expected to fly until 21 July at the earliest.

A Boeing Starliner landing system is tested for reliability in White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Photo credit: NASA/Boeing

Steve Stich, manager of Commercial Crew Program at NASA, confirmed the delay in a media teleconference on Wednesday. Officials from the space agency and Boeing need more time to assess the capsule, and to avoid conflicts with upcoming flights scheduled to the ISS.

Boeing's Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission has suffered repeated setbacks, and was originally slated to fly in April. "We've deliberated and decided that the best launch attempt is no earlier than July 21st," Stitch said. 

"Where we're at right now is really getting through the certification work… it is a large amount of work which has been going on for well over a year. There's 600 components that have to be qualified on the Starliner for NASA and Boeing to review jointly [and] over 70 hazard reports. And then a total of what we call 370 verifications," he added.

They are both paying close attention to the parachute system on the Starliner deployed to land the spacecraft safely back on Earth. Ground tests will examine the parachute's ability to launch properly and slow the Starliner to splash down safely for the return of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will fly and spend eight days docked to the ISS in the CFT. 

Joel Montalbano, manager of  NASA's International Space Station Program, said that activities onboard the ISS are jam packed over the next few months. The Soyuz MS-23 currently docked to the space station will be relocated to another module. Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts will also be performing separate spacewalks to adjust for incoming solar arrays and retrieve hardware.

There are also upcoming cargo deliveries as well as the Axiom-2 mission, the second private crewed mission to the ISS, which will send the first Saudi Arabian woman, Rayyanah Barnawi, to space. Barnawi's crewmates include Ali Alqarni, a second Saudi representative, Peggy Whitson, a NASA veteran, and John Shoffner, an investor and pilot.

All that means is Boeing will have to find a flight slot after these events. 

"We're very close," said Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of the CST Starliner at Boeing. He said the company was working hard to inspect the spacecraft's hardware, build the service module, refurbish the crew module, and verify its flight software. 

"Most of the areas that needed to be completed are going to be completed by the end of April. In the one area that Steve talked about, which is the parachute, the verification closure notice and the hazard report will poke out into May," he said. 

The next major milestone will be loading the propellant into the spacecraft about 40 days prior to its launch. ®

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2023-03-30 13:42:00Z
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