Starliner takes off ... back to the factory and not space
(2021/08/13)
- Reference: 1628885469
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/08/13/boeing_starliner_delay/
- Source link:
Boeing's troubled CST-100 Starliner capsule, once expected to ferry astronauts to and from space, is heading back to the workshop after suffering mechanical failures.
The spacecraft's second unmanned flight test was supposed to take place this month though that launch was [1]delayed , and now scrapped, after 13 of the valves controlling the propulsion system used for maneuvering failed a pre-flight check. Although attempts were made to fix the issue on-site, in a press conference on Friday Boeing said it was decoupling the capsule from its Atlas V booster and will be going back to the shop for a rethink.
“Mission success in human spaceflight depends on thousands of factors coming together at the right time,” [2]said John Vollmer, vice president and program manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program. “We’ll continue to work the issue from the Starliner factory and have decided to stand down for this launch window to make way for other national priority missions.”
[3]
Boeing's CST-100 Starliner at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in 2019 ... Credit: NASA/Cory Huston. Click to enlarge, or [4]here for even larger
This is highly embarrassing for an aerospace giant that has worked with NASA since the agency's inception in 1958. Starliner was supposed to visit the International Station Space in December 2019 in its first test flight but [5]a software problem 31 minutes after liftoff caused its thrusters to fire incorrectly, leaving the crewless cargo-carrying calamity capsule without enough fuel to reach its destination.
The spacecraft then spent two days orbiting our planet before reentering the atmosphere and landing in one piece. The Starliner was supposed to transport Christmas presents to the space station crew from their families. Good job, Boeing.
[6]Engineers work to open Boeing Starliner's valves as schedule pressures mount
[7]Boeing and Rocket Lab hope for the best as both return to launchpad following failures
[8]There are a lot of people out there who'd like to fire Jeff Bezos into space – but he's doing the honours himself
[9]SpaceX flings another bunch of humans into orbit in reused capsule atop reused booster
Today's announcement will put more pressure on Boeing to shape up and ship some hardware that actually works. After that earlier flight to the International Space Station failed, Kathy Lueders, associate administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, [10]said the American agency had trusted Boeing to get things right and focused much of its scrutiny on newcomer SpaceX, and wrongly assumed Boeing was on top of things with its Starliner project.
Boeing and SpaceX were supposed to be competing for contracts to deliver crew and supplies to the ISS. Elon Musk's super-geeks have now transported ten astronauts safely to the orbiting science lab while Boeing continues to be, well, [11]Boeing . ®
[12]
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/10/cst_100_starliner_valves/
[2] https://starlinerupdates.com/starliner-returning-to-factory-to-resolve-valve-issue/
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/08/13/nasa_cropped_starliner.jpg
[4] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/boeing-cst-100-starliner-takes-next-step-for-orbital-flight-test
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2019/12/20/boeing_starliner_failure/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/10/cst_100_starliner_valves/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/28/boeing_rocket_lab/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/07/bezos_blue_origin_flight/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/23/spacex_crew_2/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/08/nasa_boeing_starliner/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/08/boeing_737_charges/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YRbrmp4u-tpNtzOyZneC9QAAAAY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The spacecraft's second unmanned flight test was supposed to take place this month though that launch was [1]delayed , and now scrapped, after 13 of the valves controlling the propulsion system used for maneuvering failed a pre-flight check. Although attempts were made to fix the issue on-site, in a press conference on Friday Boeing said it was decoupling the capsule from its Atlas V booster and will be going back to the shop for a rethink.
“Mission success in human spaceflight depends on thousands of factors coming together at the right time,” [2]said John Vollmer, vice president and program manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program. “We’ll continue to work the issue from the Starliner factory and have decided to stand down for this launch window to make way for other national priority missions.”
[3]
Boeing's CST-100 Starliner at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in 2019 ... Credit: NASA/Cory Huston. Click to enlarge, or [4]here for even larger
This is highly embarrassing for an aerospace giant that has worked with NASA since the agency's inception in 1958. Starliner was supposed to visit the International Station Space in December 2019 in its first test flight but [5]a software problem 31 minutes after liftoff caused its thrusters to fire incorrectly, leaving the crewless cargo-carrying calamity capsule without enough fuel to reach its destination.
The spacecraft then spent two days orbiting our planet before reentering the atmosphere and landing in one piece. The Starliner was supposed to transport Christmas presents to the space station crew from their families. Good job, Boeing.
[6]Engineers work to open Boeing Starliner's valves as schedule pressures mount
[7]Boeing and Rocket Lab hope for the best as both return to launchpad following failures
[8]There are a lot of people out there who'd like to fire Jeff Bezos into space – but he's doing the honours himself
[9]SpaceX flings another bunch of humans into orbit in reused capsule atop reused booster
Today's announcement will put more pressure on Boeing to shape up and ship some hardware that actually works. After that earlier flight to the International Space Station failed, Kathy Lueders, associate administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, [10]said the American agency had trusted Boeing to get things right and focused much of its scrutiny on newcomer SpaceX, and wrongly assumed Boeing was on top of things with its Starliner project.
Boeing and SpaceX were supposed to be competing for contracts to deliver crew and supplies to the ISS. Elon Musk's super-geeks have now transported ten astronauts safely to the orbiting science lab while Boeing continues to be, well, [11]Boeing . ®
[12]
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/10/cst_100_starliner_valves/
[2] https://starlinerupdates.com/starliner-returning-to-factory-to-resolve-valve-issue/
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/08/13/nasa_cropped_starliner.jpg
[4] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/boeing-cst-100-starliner-takes-next-step-for-orbital-flight-test
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2019/12/20/boeing_starliner_failure/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/10/cst_100_starliner_valves/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/28/boeing_rocket_lab/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/07/bezos_blue_origin_flight/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/23/spacex_crew_2/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/08/nasa_boeing_starliner/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/08/boeing_737_charges/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YRbrmp4u-tpNtzOyZneC9QAAAAY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: The problem
Mishak
If that's the case, that would be a very basic error to have made.
Let's hope there are no other "surprises" waiting to be found.
Re: The problem
Yet Another Anonymous coward
In Liftoff, the book about the early days of SpaceX, they lose the 2nd or 3rd launch because of corrosion in the salt air of the little Pacific island they are working from - with no hanger.
Except they were new to this and Boeing have been launching from Alabama and Florida since the 1940s
Re: The problem
Vulch
The first launch of the Falcon 1 had an aluminium locking nut give way due to salt corrosion so it piddled kerosene over the outside of the engine which turned out to be a Bad Thing (tm). Easy fix, aluminium nuts replaced with stainless steel equivalents.
R2D2
Anonymous Coward
Is that picture and the capsule deliberately made to look like R2D2, or is it just me?
Re: R2D2
fargonebastage
that is not the droid you're looking for
Pretty sad when even the capsule’s saying…
NetBlackOps
If it’s Boeing, I ain’t going.
The problem
The problem seems to be down to leakage through seals which was expected meeting humid air in the void behind which wasn't. In space the void is vented to vacuum to get rid of the leakage, but on the ground is connected to the outisde atmosphere and NTO plus water creates nitric acid which has corroded the valves. Humid air in Florida, who could have forseen that?