WASHINGTON: Boeing is aiming for a take a look at flight of its unmanned CST-100 Starliner capsule within the first half of subsequent yr and a possible launch of its crewed spacecraft on the finish of 2022, firm officers stated Tuesday.
The CST-100 had been scheduled to fly to the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 3 however the flight was aborted simply hours earlier than launch due to issues with propulsion system valves.
Boeing officers instructed reporters in a briefing on Tuesday that they had been nonetheless conducting testing of the valves however they could have change into caught due to moisture or condensation.
“Regular surroundings humidity was probably the supply of that moisture within the valves,” Michelle Parker, Boeing Area and Launch chief engineer, stated.
Boeing was compelled to take away the spacecraft from the Atlas V rocket constructed by United Launch Alliance and transport it to a manufacturing facility at Kennedy Area Middle for troubleshooting of the valves.
John Vollmer, vice-president and program supervisor of Boeing’s Business Crew Program, stated the aerospace large was now trying to conduct the unmanned CST-100 take a look at flight within the “first half of 2022”.
If that flight is profitable, “we’d have a look at CFT (crewed flight take a look at) perhaps by the top of the yr,” Vollmer stated.
“We prefer to see six months in between flights,” he stated.
Boeing constructed the Starliner below contract with NASA to ferry astronauts to low Earth orbit following the top of the Area Shuttle program in 2011.
NASA gave each Boeing and SpaceX multi-billion greenback contracts to offer its astronauts with taxi companies to the house station and finish US reliance on Russian rockets for the journey.
SpaceX’s program has moved ahead quicker, having now undertaken 4 crewed missions.
Boeing’s program is lagging behind and the aborted Starliner launch was a setback for the corporate. Boeing wants to finish a profitable uncrewed mission earlier than it will probably carry astronauts.
Throughout an preliminary unmanned take a look at flight in December 2019, the Starliner capsule skilled glitches with its thrusters. It didn’t have sufficient gasoline to succeed in the ISS and needed to return to Earth prematurely.
The CST-100 had been scheduled to fly to the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 3 however the flight was aborted simply hours earlier than launch due to issues with propulsion system valves.
Boeing officers instructed reporters in a briefing on Tuesday that they had been nonetheless conducting testing of the valves however they could have change into caught due to moisture or condensation.
“Regular surroundings humidity was probably the supply of that moisture within the valves,” Michelle Parker, Boeing Area and Launch chief engineer, stated.
Boeing was compelled to take away the spacecraft from the Atlas V rocket constructed by United Launch Alliance and transport it to a manufacturing facility at Kennedy Area Middle for troubleshooting of the valves.
John Vollmer, vice-president and program supervisor of Boeing’s Business Crew Program, stated the aerospace large was now trying to conduct the unmanned CST-100 take a look at flight within the “first half of 2022”.
If that flight is profitable, “we’d have a look at CFT (crewed flight take a look at) perhaps by the top of the yr,” Vollmer stated.
“We prefer to see six months in between flights,” he stated.
Boeing constructed the Starliner below contract with NASA to ferry astronauts to low Earth orbit following the top of the Area Shuttle program in 2011.
NASA gave each Boeing and SpaceX multi-billion greenback contracts to offer its astronauts with taxi companies to the house station and finish US reliance on Russian rockets for the journey.
SpaceX’s program has moved ahead quicker, having now undertaken 4 crewed missions.
Boeing’s program is lagging behind and the aborted Starliner launch was a setback for the corporate. Boeing wants to finish a profitable uncrewed mission earlier than it will probably carry astronauts.
Throughout an preliminary unmanned take a look at flight in December 2019, the Starliner capsule skilled glitches with its thrusters. It didn’t have sufficient gasoline to succeed in the ISS and needed to return to Earth prematurely.
Supply: Times of India