Boeing Starliner
 

Boeing is having no luck - or yet another example of poor design and/or quality control, depending how you view it….

https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/08/0...oubleshooting/

Boeing’s Starliner capsule returns to hanger for valve troubleshooting

The Starliner and SLS are becoming an absolute joke. As is Boeing.

Starliner update

How on earth did it make it to the pad with 13 non-functioning valves...?!


Hammer and blowtorch presumably...

My completely uneducated and uninformed guess is the root cause (whatever that may be) caused a whole system's worth of valves to become non-functioning.

The problem is that Boeing have no idea of th3 root cause if the failure, and therefore no way of guaranteeing it won’t reoccur during the stresses of launch or exposure to space.

Their access is limited in that the valves are all mounted internally in the vehicle. Their available external testing if the valves shows no corrosion o4 material problems, they seem fine. They have been able to “jiggle” them using heat etc to work, but can they be sure they’ll continue to work?

They could roll the dive and launch, after all it’s unmanned, but would NASA feel safe to then go straight to manned flights without being 100% certain if th3 cause?

Bottom line - NASA won’t let them fly until they can identify the roof cause and prove it has been resolved. As such I can’t see how it can fly until they’ve been removed and had detailed internal inspections - however desperately Boeing argue the case with NASA.

If they roll the dice and launch:
Best case, it works, but Boeing still has to figure out the root cause and show to NASA's satisfaction it has been addressed. Cue flight test #3?
Worst case, it doesn't work, Boeing has yet another media black eye and still has to figure out what went wrong. I suspect there will be more than a few folks calling for cancellation of Boeing's contract.

I'm guessing there will be no dice rolling, no launch, and Starliner isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

I was wrong, Starliner is going someplace... back to the factory for further troubleshooting

https://starlinerupdates.com/starlin...e-valve-issue/

How long have they been building and function testing this heap of Garbage? Glad it's not my taxes paying for it.

Brings back painful memories of the Apollo 1 fire in 1967. That ship was an accident waiting to happen; I fear Starliner may be one as well. Time to pull the plug IMHO.

- Ed

I must admit that thought has crossed my a few times when reading some of the previous posts…

.....Especially as Spacex have a very serviceable product, already doing the job!

Mid-July launch of first crewed vehicle now delayed indefinitely for understrength parachuted risers and using a flammable tape in the cabin to wrap wire harnesses! Apollo 1 all over again! This is worse than not knowing that Florida is humid in summer, which caused their second demo flight valve problems. I don't know who is more incompetent Boeing for doing it or NASA for not finding the issues until the third flight.

Time to kick this pig to the curb and hope Sierra's space plane works.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/0...ound-problems/

……These new problems are likely to ratchet up concerns from outside observers about the safety culture at Boeing.

Last week, NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel urged NASA to bring in independent experts to assess the viability of Starliner.

“Given the number of remaining challenges to certification of Starliner, we strongly encourage NASA to step back and take a measured look at the remaining body of work with respect to flying CFT,” Patricia Sanders, chair of the committee, said on May 25.

She believes NASA should bring in an independent team, such as from the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, “to take a deep look at the items on the path to closure.”

That was before the most recent issues cropped up. Doubtless, safety experts will be concerned about how these issues went undiscovered by Boeing and NASA until the final weeks leading up to the flight…..

Questions have been raised about whether Boeing will remain committed to the Starliner program, which is already a money loser.

The company is contracted to fly six missions for NASA after certification of the Starliner vehicle, which will only occur after the crewed flight test. Boeing has already received much of the $4.2 billion from NASA in milestone awards, so it presumably would have to give some of that money back if it did not fly astronauts for NASA. But the cost of flying those missions may be greater than any funding Boeing would have to pay back to NASA.….

Update to the latest delay.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/07/boei...for-march.html

Now the earliest for a crewed test flight is March 2024 with first operational flight sometime in 2025. This is eight years after the originally planned 2017 operational date and 6 years after the failed initial test flight.

Boing continues to excel!

First launch planned for 0234 UTC Tuesday , 2234 EDT today.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpeg21x7n7qo

Flight scrubbed, due a valve problem on the launch vehicle not a capsule issue, next attempt NET Friday.

Space.com:

”It will take a few days to work through the valve issue that scrubbed the first astronaut mission of Boeing's Starliner capsule.

A test mission to the International Space Station called Crew Flight Test (CFT).CFT was supposed to launch on Monday night (May 6).

That attempt was called off about two hours before the planned liftoff, however, due to an issue with a pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank in the upper stage of Starliner's rocket ride, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V.

Early on Tuesday morning (May 7), NASA announced that launch teams need more time to troubleshoot the issue. The earliest that CFT could launch is now Friday night (May 10), at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT on May 11).”

They really are having some bad luck with this. The Atlas is one of the most reliable rockets avaliable. Ho hum.

True generically but this is an Atlas V..big changes over previous iterations including Russian engines, and FWIW last night’s (now believed to be minor) problem was in the Centaur upper stage.

ULA will roll the Atlas V rocket back to its hangar to replace a faulty valve in its upper stage. Next launch attempt is 10 days from today.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/

Won't be fun for the crew to be in quarantine for 10 days

Quarantine is when they may have a disease you don't want to catch.

Isolation is when you may have a disease they don't want to catch.

The Crew Flight Test of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is no longer targeting Saturday, May 25.

​​​​​​​We're awaiting official word from NASA and Boeing on the next possible launch date and for more information regarding the path forward on the helium leak.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....26905645a4.png

Starting now, NASA, Boeing and ULA will provide an update on the Starliner Crew Flight Test, which is currently set for no earlier than June 1.

Follow this thread for written updates.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...066577816.html
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Starliner spacecraft was rolled out to pad 41 yesterday with launch targeted for 1225PM EDT Sat, Jun 1st.

Saturday launch scrubbed for "Technical reasons". Hopefully another attempt tomorrow.

Hold at 4 mins, then scrubbed again.
Not sure why.
Will this thing ever fly?

Supposed to be another window in 24 hours - once they work out why the computer aborted the countdown…

How did NASA ever get to the Moon 55 years ago?????

Fewer computers.

Next launch attempt now planned for Wednesday.

Starship IFT-4 is planned for Thursday. Reportedly the FAA will not allow both on the same day so, if Starliner delays again, Starship gets priority for Thursday.

Actually they had lots more computers... Of the human variety.

How come, do you know?

One rumoured reason, would you believe, is PR. NASA wants the press to be able to cover both…..

Id imagine other shared assets such as the RB-57 and telescope and satellites etc might be a concern.

That's 14:29 UTC for June 6th, right at the end of Starship's window. Even Starliner launching a day earlier will mean lots of spaceflight reporters/photographers missing one or the other.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6c60f8a545.png

Finally, Starliner gets to orbit.

No video till they reach the ISS - because Starliner doesn’t have cameras or video downlinks onboard…

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/spac...ace-rcna155185

Live updates: Boeing Starliner flies NASA astronauts into space for first time

They are so far behind SpaceX on the PR stuff.

I watched the NASA TV launch replay. There was an external camera and live downlink which showed the
solid rocket boosters separating and quite a lot of vision after that
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Looks like they didn’t solve the problem….. Flight controllers in Houston are troubleshooting a helium leak in the propulsion system on Boeing's Starliner.

According to a mission commentator the crew has closed all helium manifold valves in an effort to isolate the leak.

Helium provides pressure to the propulsion system, which is used for manuevering and the braking burn needed to return the astronauts to Earth.

A helium leak detected prior to launch delayed the mission by several weeks but was deemed safe to fly with.

Adding some additional context on the helium leaks onboard Starliner: teams are monitoring two new leaks beyond the original leak detected prior to liftoff. One is in the port 2 manifold, one in the port 1 manifold and the other in the top manifold.

The port 2 manifold leak, connected to one of the Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters, is the one engineers were tracking pre-launch.

The spacecraft is in a stable configuration and teams are pressing forward with the plan to rendezvous and dock with the ISS on June 6 at about 12:15 pm EDT (1615 UTC).

Boeing engineer Brandon Burroughs explains more about the solution in work overnight and what comes next.

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It's a shame that the project continues to be plagued with technical issues and delays. Then again, they are a big step closer to having the system operational.