Faulty Propulsion Valves Delay Boeing's Big Spacecraft Launch

The Starliner and ULA Atlas V await their launch at the Cape Canaveral Space Strength Station in Florida in Baronial prior to the attempt existence scrubbed. Epitome: United Launch Alliance

The Boeing Company's Starliner crewed vehicle'south highly-predictable second flying test was scrubbed past the National Aeronautics and Infinite Administration (NASA) and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) today. The mission was et to take to the skies later today after being delayed from final calendar week due to an accident onboard the International Infinite Station (ISS) which led to the orbiting space laboratory losing its orientation. NASA posted the update on its web log and described that the reason for the filibuster as faulty valves on the Starliner, Boeing's crewed spacecraft for the agency's Commercial Crew Plan (CCP).

Starliner Might Launch Tomorrow From Cape Canaveral Infinite Strength Station

The Starliner Operational Flight Test 2 (OFT-two) mission was set up to launch o the ULA'due south Atlas V rocket from the Space Strength's Cape Canaveral launch station today at thirteen:20 EDT. The countdown for the launch had started early morning today, and Boeing confirmed roughly an hour back that the launch had been scrubbed.

The company and NASA shared the reasons for the delay moments back, with NASA's weblog providing a brief overview.

According to the space bureau:

NASA, Boeing and United Launch Brotherhood (ULA) take scrubbed the Aug. 3 launch attempt of the agency's Orbital Flight Exam-2 to the International Space Station due to unexpected valve position indications in the Starliner propulsion system. ULA will brainstorm removing propellant from the Atlas Five rocket.

Awaiting resolution of the forrard piece of work, our adjacent available launch opportunity would be 12:57 p.one thousand. EDT on Wednesday, Aug. four.

Every bit is axiomatic from the statement, if the problem with the spacecraft is resolved in a little over 24 hours, then the Starliner OFT-two volition take to the skies early afternoon tomorrow. The Starliner is i of two vehicles that are role of NASA'southward CCP contracts, with the other belonging to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX). SpaceX's Coiffure Dragon vehicle is the only operational American spacecraft capable of conveying astronauts to the ISS.

Boeing's Starliner sits on tiptop of the United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Paradigm: Boeing/John Grant

Commenting on the delay, Boeing's CCP programme manager Mr. John Vollmer stated that:

"We're disappointed with today's outcome and the need to reschedule our Starliner launch. Human spaceflight is a complex, precise and unforgiving endeavor, and Boeing and NASA teams will take the fourth dimension they need to ensure the condom and integrity of the spacecraft and the achievement of our mission objectives."

The company attributed the delay to faulty propulsion valves on the Starliner, and surprisingly, it as well outlined that it had discovered the error yesterday during checkout operations post-obit electrical storms near NASA's Kennedy Space Heart.

Today's scrub marks another delay for Starliner, which is expected to play a central role in NASA's CCP program. The Ofttimes-two mission, which first took place in 2019, was scrubbed after a communications system fault on the vehicle.

Boeing'southward Director of Starliner Mission, former Us Navy pilot and NASA astronaut, Mr. Christopher Ferguson described the reason backside the failure last week past outlining that:

So there were a couple. Yous know one of them had to practise with locking on to a bad TEDRIS frequency. Nosotros've got plenty of mitigations in place for that. In fact for the crewed flight examination, nosotros are going to roll on a new communications transceiver that is a picayune more robust and resistant to that. But we take mitigation ways to detect if nosotros accept what we call a simulated lock. And we'll break that lock and will reacquire. So that's one of them. Another 1 we discovered that we were really looking a lilliputian as well close with our antennas to the Earth'south horizon.

And therefore we were picking up a lot of interfering frequencies and those interfering frequencies all fall in the region of cellphones. Believe it or not. Then nosotros at present accept actually canted our view of the horizon. Nosotros sort of mask out out that noisy area. And we've taken other measures. We point ourselves in what nosotros call communications friendly attitudes to endeavour to brand sure that we minimize our exposure to that noise. So I remember the biggest thing is for the crewed flight test and subsequent we're going to scroll on a new transceiver which will really permanently put a lot of these issues behind u.s. just in the interim we've got a lot of good measures in place to ensure we have adept comm throughout the flight.

The company is nonetheless to provide updates for the faulty propulsion system valves, simply it remains optimistic for meeting tomorrow's launch window.