Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Science News

Boeing delays test flight for Starliner crew capsule

The Air Force had to use the same launch pad, the company announced.

Jordan Strickler by Jordan Strickler
April 4, 2019
in News, Science, Space
Reading Time: 2 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit
Boeing's CST-100 Starliner. Credit: Boeing, Wikimedia Commons.
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner. Credit: Boeing, Wikimedia Commons.

Aerospace company Boeing announced earlier this week that it has re-scheduled the first orbital test flight of its commercial crew capsule, called the CST-100 Starliner. The test flight, which was supposed to occur in April, has been pushed back again to August.

Boeing said the decision to delay the test was made to avoid conflicts with the U.S. Air Force, which is scheduled to use the same launch pad around the same time for its Advanced Extremely High Frequency 5 military communications satellite. The Starliner spacecraft, which was designed and built under a $4.2 billion contract from NASA, was delayed last year when a June test of its emergency abort system revealed a propellant leak. A re-test of the capsule’s abort engines at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico is planned in the coming months. That will be followed by a pad abort test sometime this summer.

Sorry to interrupt, but you should really...

...Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

“In order to avoid unnecessary schedule pressure, not interfere with a critical national security payload, and allow appropriate schedule margin to ensure the Boeing, United Launch Alliance and NASA teams are able to perform a successful first launch of Starliner, we made the most responsible decision available to us and will be ready for the next launch pad availability in August,” the company said.

Along with SpaceX, Boeing is under contract from NASA to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. The Chicago-based company will fly their Starliner aboard United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, the same one needed for the Air Force’s mission.

ADVERTISEMENT

Originally slated for trips lasting no more than a couple of weeks to the ISS, NASA has announced that Boeing’s initial manned flight – creatively coined the Crew Flight Test — could be a long-duration one, lasting months. The manned test, which is expected to carry two NASA astronauts and Boeing test pilot Chris Ferguson, is expected in late 2019. The extended duration test flight offers NASA the opportunity to complete additional microgravity research, maintenance, and other activities while the company’s Starliner is docked to the station. The mission duration will be determined at a later date.

“NASA’s assessment of extending the mission was found to be technically achievable without compromising the safety of the crew,” said Phil McAlister, director of the commercial spaceflight division at NASA. “Commercial crew flight tests, along with the additional Soyuz opportunities, help us transition with greater flexibility to our next-generation commercial systems.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Tags: BoeingStarliner
ShareTweetShare
Jordan Strickler

Jordan Strickler

A space nerd and self-described grammar freak (all his Twitter posts are complete sentences), he loves learning about the unknown and figures that if he isn’t smart enough to send satellites to space, he can at least write about it. Twitter: @JordanS1981

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.