Boeing fails (again) with its Starliner
12:21 local time, at the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida. Astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, seated in Starliner, are preparing to take off towards the International Space Station for the first manned flight of the Boeing capsule, installed atop the Atlas V rocket.
But 3 minutes 50 before departure, one of the computers in the control center asked to suspend the launch. Launch ultimately canceled. However, it was a “major test” of the system, note CNBC. Especially since the flight, scheduled for May 6, had already been postponed following a helium leak.
Late on Space X
“The disappointment lasts three seconds. And then you immediately get back to work”commented Mark Nappi, manager of Boeing’s human flight program, quoted by CNBC. A new launch was planned for Sunday but ultimately will not take place before the middle of the week, time to examine the reasons for the problem observed on Saturday.
“Starliner suffered setbacks and delays”, remind him Washington Post, mentioning for example an uncrewed test flight which had never reached the ISS in 2019. The multiple problems of the program caused an additional cost of more than a billion dollars for Boeing, which had signed a contract in 2014 for 4, 2 billion dollars with NASA, precise NPR. The American space agency has retired its shuttles and chosen to go through private companies to reach the ISS to no longer depend on the Russian Soyuz launcher.
At the same time, Space underlines CBS News. The reputation of the aerospace giant has also been damaged in recent months by multiple incidents on its airliners.
