Launch of Boeing's Starliner capsule delayed indefinitely

[Elderberry]

Space.com By Mike Wall  8/3/2021

It's unclear when Starliner will get off the ground.

We may have to wait a while to see Boeing's Starliner astronaut taxi take flight again.

Starliner was originally supposed to launch last Friday (July 30) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a crucial uncrewed mission to the International Space Station for NASA called Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2).

Unplanned thruster firings of Russia's recently arrived Nauka module tilted the orbiting lab significantly on Thursday (July 29), however, and OFT-2's liftoff was pushed to Tuesday (Aug. 3) to give station managers time to assess the situation.

But in the hours before launch on Tuesday, Boeing announced that the Starliner team had discovered "unexpected valve position indications" in the capsule's propulsion system. Boeing and NASA stood down from that day's attempt to investigate the issue, stating that a liftoff on Wednesday (Aug. 4) remained a possibility.

But that's no longer the case. On Tuesday evening, Boeing representatives said that Starliner won't fly on Wednesday, and they didn't give a new target launch date.

More: https://www.space.com/boeing-starliner-launch-delayed-indefinitely

[Elderberry]

Launch of Boeing’s Starliner Delayed Indefinitely Due to Vexing Technical Glitch

Gizmodo By George Dvorsky 8/4/21 12:40PM

https://gizmodo.com/launch-of-boeing-s-starliner-delayed-indefinitely-due-t-1847421543

The delayed launch is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Boeing project, which aims to eventually carry astronauts to the ISS.

The second uncrewed test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner is on hold, as mission teams with Boeing and NASA troubleshoot an issue having to do with the spacecraft’s propulsion system.

On Tuesday, mission teams with Boeing and NASA tried to fix the issue by “cycling the service module propulsion system valves,” as NASA notes. Some potential causes, including those related to software, were ruled out, but the team needs more time to complete their evaluation.

Further inspections and tests are warranted, so the team plans to transport the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, with Starliner positioned atop, to the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The team will power down Starliner later today and then move the rocket and spacecraft to VIF. A rescheduled date and time of launch has not been determined.

Now is the part of my article when I’m obliged to say this is all a normal part of development and testing, that it’s good to be safe, and that problems should be expected, and bla bla bla. But as much as I’m rooting for this project, it’s clearly been a shitshow. Boeing needs to get its act together, whether it’s designing safe commercial crew vehicles for NASA astronauts or making pilots aware of frighteningly dangerous features added to next-gen airplanes.

More at link.

[Elderberry]

Boeing, NASA silent on what’s wrong with Starliner

Washington Post by Dalvin Brown 8/4/2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/04/boeing-starliner-valve-relaunch/

The aerospace giant ruled out a software problem, but engineers say the valve issue may still take weeks to address

NASA and Boeing officials remained largely silent Wednesday about what the likely next steps are for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, a day after a much-anticipated test flight was scrubbed because a sensor indicated a valve on the vehicle wasn’t in the proper position.

The spacecraft remained on its launchpad in Florida throughout the day amid speculation from engineers and others familiar with the spacecraft that it would need to be moved and perhaps disassembled to determine what went wrong. A new launch date, they speculated, could be weeks away.

There’s a slim chance the problem could be fixed this week, according to aerospace engineers not affiliated with Boeing or NASA.

But what’s more likely is a weeks-long delay as teams attempt to locate the source of the problem before beginning the multistep process of fixing it, putting the pieces back together and running safety tests.