NASA delays launch of SpaceX mission due to Boeing’s Starliner
NASA announced that it has postponed the planned four-astronaut mission to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon by a month to dedicate more time to analyzing problems with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, still docked at the station
Problems with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft delay NASA astronauts' next mission aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
On August 6, the US space agency announced that it had postponed the routine launch of SpaceX astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) by a month to dedicate more time to analyzing problems with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.
The delay will provide “operational flexibility” to the agency, NASA said. In fact, there is still no date for the return to Earth of Boeing's Starliner space shuttle, which still remains docked at the ISS.
Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams lifted off June 5 aboard Starliner for what was expected to be a week-long mission. Nearly two months later, they are still in orbit on the International Space Station, in temporal limbo, due to technical problems that arose during the first crewed test flight of Boeing's spacecraft.
And now the Crew Dragon from Musk's aerospace company could serve as a reserve vehicle to bring the Starliner crew back to Earth.
All the details.
CREW-9 MISSION POSTPONED
The launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts on board was initially scheduled for August 18, but yesterday NASA announced that the mission, called Crew-9, is now scheduled for "no sooner" than September 24.
“This change allows mission managers more time to finalize return planning for the agency's Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked at the orbiting laboratory,” the agency explained.
THE RETURN OF THE BOEING TEST MISSION
To date, it is not known if and when Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft will be able to complete its test flight.
NASA'S POSITION
“No decisions have been made regarding the return of Starliner,” the NASA statement added.
To date, astronauts have been in space for about 64 days. NASA has previously indicated that the Starliner can remain in space for up to 90 days, CNN recalls.
So a decision will have to be made shortly. A new NASA briefing on Boeing's Starliner crew flight test mission is expected today.
THE PROBLEMS OF THE AMERICAN AEROSPACE GIANT
Meanwhile, on July 25, Boeing also said that engineers had conducted rigorous ground tests and had narrowed down the likely root cause of the problems Starliner experienced in June during the first leg of its historic crewed test flight, including including five thrusters that had suddenly stopped working and helium leaks that had occurred during the journey. But now those efforts appear to have stalled, CNN points out.
The company says it has worked to understand the Starliner's propulsion issues and is confident the vehicle is safe to bring its crew home, according to an Aug. 2 Boeing statement.
As Reuters recalls, mission delays have cost Boeing $125 million, bringing the company's total loss on the program to $1.6 billion since 2016, as the aerospace giant struggles to build a spacecraft capable of competing with SpaceX's more proven and less expensive Crew Dragon.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/la-nasa-ritarda-il-lancio-della-missione-spacex-a-causa-di-starliner-di-boeing/ on Wed, 07 Aug 2024 12:17:03 +0000.