The design of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, has been fraught with technical hurdles. And after years of delays, the challenges aren’t over yet…
2014: NASA’s Command. In 2014, NASA ordered two spacecraft to transport its astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The American space agency awarded Boeing $4.2 billion to develop Starliner and SpaceX $2.6 billion for Crew Dragon. The goal is to end dependence on Russian Soyuz spacecraft. In 2019, a very severe public audit for NASA estimated that it had “overpaid” Boeing to build its capsule.
Valves and helium
2019: First failed test. In 2019, during a first uncrewed test flight, Starliner failed to reach the ISS due to a trajectory error. The ship was forced to return to Earth. This was the beginning of Boeing’s black series.
2021: New complications. A second uncrewed flight is cancelled due to blocked valves on the capsule.
2022: First mooring, empty. Starliner finally joins the ISS without astronauts on board, after numerous technical modifications.
May 6, 2024: First manned flight postponed. On May 6, 2024, Starliner is ready to transport astronauts to the ISS for the first time, American veterans Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. But a few hours before takeoff, an anomaly on a valve of the Atlas V rocket leads to the cancellation of the flight. This first postponement is a hard blow for Boeing, already four years behind SpaceX whose Crew Dragon is operational.
Read alsoHelium leak, failures and takeoff cancellations: Boeing is playing big on Starliner launch
May 14, 2024: Serial technical problems. After the valve is repaired, a new problem occurs: a helium leak is detected on the ship’s service module. The launch is postponed to May 21. It will be postponed again.
June 5, 2024: Successful takeoff, but problems persist. It was finally on June 5, 2024 that Starliner successfully took off from Cape Canaveral. The ship docked with the ISS on June 6. […]
- sciencesetavenir.fr
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