Boeing's 1st astronaut flight

After spending the last few weeks battling new issues with the spacecraft, Boeing is now targeting its maiden astronaut launch for early June.

Despite a propulsion system leak, industry and NASA officials announced on Friday that thorough studies show the Starliner capsule can safely transport two test pilots to the International Space Station. The little helium leak was found after the initial launch attempt on May 6, which was aborted due to a now-fixed separate rocket issue.

The size of a shirt button is thought to be a faulty rubber seal, according to engineers, who also claim that even if the leak gets larger, it might be fixed in flight. According to NASA's commercial crew programme manager Steve Stich, all other seals on the capsule appeared to be in good condition, therefore managers decided to aim for a launch date of June 1.

This will be Starliner's third test flight. Demos in 2022 and 2019 were empty. Due to software and other issues, Boeing had to make the empty flight again.
According to Stich, Starliner would have launched from Cape Canaveral earlier this month with the leak first discovered in orbit if not for the malfunctioning valve on the Atlas V rocket that stopped the first countdown. Officials emphasised that the astronauts would have been safe if flight controllers had handled the leak. The propulsion system's fuel lines are pressurised with helium to help the capsule manoeuvre while in flight.

Since engineers now know where the leak is, "that's going to help us with improving the system in the future," said Mark Nappi, programme manager for Boeing.

"Keep in mind that this is a test flight. We're not done yet," Nappi informed reporters.
After the Starliner leak was found, another issue was found, according to Stich: "a design vulnerability" in the propulsion system in the improbable scenario of a series of failures. In the event that such issues happen, the crew has devised workaround techniques to safely remove the capsule from orbit at the end of the journey, he continued.

"Until we're certain we're safe, we won't take off," stated NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free.

When it comes to carrying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, Boeing's Starliner capsule is already years behind schedule. Since 2020, SpaceX has conducted crew launches. NASA wants both businesses to provide taxi services so that they can support one another.

Source(s): AP