On this handout provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen illuminated by spotlights on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test on May 4, 2024 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Joel Kowsky | NASA | Handout | Getty Images
Boeing and NASA are moving forward with the launch of the corporate’s Starliner capsule, set to hold U.S. astronauts for the primary time, despite a “stable” leak within the spacecraft’s propulsion system.
“We’re comfortable with the causes that we have identified for this specific leak,” Mark Nappi, Boeing vice chairman and manager of the corporate’s Industrial Crew program, said during a press conference on Friday.
“We all know we will manage this [leak], so this is de facto not a security of flight issue,” Nappi added.
Boeing is now targeting June 1 for the primary crewed launch of its spacecraft, with backup opportunities on June 2, June 5 and June 6.
The mission, often called the Starliner Crew Flight Test, is meant to function the ultimate major development test of the capsule by delivering a pair of NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station before flying routine missions.
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Starliner’s crew debut has been delayed by years, with SpaceX’s competing Dragon capsule flying astronauts for NASA usually since 2020 under the agency’s Industrial Crew program. To this point, Boeing has eaten $1.5 billion in costs resulting from Starliner setbacks, as well as to just about $5 billion of NASA development funds.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is seen before docking with the International Space Station on May 20, 2022 in the course of the uncrewed OFT-2 mission.
Boeing
NASA and Boeing called off a launch attempt on May 6 about two hours before liftoff resulting from a difficulty detected with the Atlas V rocket that can lift Starliner into orbit. Atlas V is built and operated by United Launch Alliance, or ULA, a three way partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Through the press conference Friday, a ULA official noted that the rocket’s problematic valve was replaced every week after the launch was postponed.
But after calling off the launch attempt, a “small” helium leak with Starliner was identified, causing Boeing and NASA to start latest assessments of the capsule and its safety for the mission. NASA Associate Administrator Ken Bowersox, certainly one of the agency’s most senior officials, explained to the press on Friday that “it’s taken some time for us to be able to discuss” the helium leak problem.
“It is so complicated. There’s so many things occurring. We actually just needed to work through it as a team,” Bowersox said.
After evaluation, NASA and Boeing consider the source of the leak is a seal in certainly one of the flanges of the spacecraft’s helium propulsion system. In testing after the May 6 postponement, NASA’s Industrial Crew Program manager Steve Stich said that teams “have seen that the leak rate is not changing.”
Stich explained that the plan is to observe the leak within the lead-up to launch and, after reaching the International Space Station, reassess the leak rate.
“We do not expect the opposite [seals] to leak, and I believe that is a confidence that we now have,” Stich said.
Stich also emphasized that NASA has “flown vehicles with small helium leaks” before, including “a few cases” from missions flown by the Space Shuttle and SpaceX’s Dragon.
NASA, Boeing and ULA will hold one other review on May 29 to review the leak. They plan to roll the rocket and capsule out to the launch pad on May 30 for the June 1 attempt.
