Boeing and NASA will soon be ready to launch Starliner again.
Officials from the two organizations recently said that they're delaying the first crewed flight of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle sometime in 2024.
Boeing previously postponed Starliner's launch indefinitely due to numerous problems that could jeopardize crew safety.
In this handout photo provided by NASA, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeings CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission on May 18, 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The End's In Sight
There is hope for Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, after all. According to a report from Space News, Boeing, and NASA officials revealed that they're delaying Starliner's first crewed launch to no earlier than Mar. 2024.
While Boeing and NASA have yet to complete the overhauling changes it needs to guarantee the safety of Starlienr's crew members in its maiden crewed launch, they have been making good progress on solving Starliner's issues.
"Based on the current plans, we're anticipating that we're going to be ready with the spacecraft in early March," said Mark Nappi, Boeing's Starliner vice president and program manager. According to Space.com, Nappi's statement reveals Starliner's anticipated readiness date; NASA and Boeing have yet to decide on a target launch date for its first crewed launch.
Both organizations didn't reveal who from the original Starliner crew is still going once Starliner is ready to take to the skies in 2024. As such, it is possible there is no changes in the team going to orbit within Starliner.
Starliner's Issues
Nappi previously revealed in a press conference in early June that Starliner has problems with its parachutes and the adhesive used to protect the spacecraft's wiring.
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According to his statement, the "soft links" used on the suspension lines of Starliner's three main parachutes have a failure load limit lower than can't handle Starliner's load if one of the three faulty parachutes fails during re-entry. Additionally, Starliner uses "hundreds of feet" of flammable adhesive tape to protect the spacecraft's internal wiring, which could burn when exiting and re-entering Earth's atmosphere.
While it is possible that Boeing and NASA could launch Starliner in 2023, he didn't want to commit to any dates or timeframes at the time; Boeing needed to spend the next several days understanding what to do to solve the issues it found.
The Solutions
To solve Starliner's issues, Boeing and NASA redesigned the spacecraft's soft links, which NASA's team is testing as of press time. This test will include a drop test due in the latter half of November. This test will also verify an updated overall design for the parachute that was originally for the first operational flight of Starliner.
NASA and Boeing's technicians busied themselves with removing the flammable adhesive tape used to protect Starliner's internal wiring, though they couldn't remove all of it from the spacecraft, especially in its lower part. Fortunately, Nappi said they'll apply the right remediation technique where possible.
For example, technicians have already removed 85% of the flammable adhesive tape from Starliner's upper part while wrapping the ones they can't remove with acceptable tape that could mitigate the flammability hazard.
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