Anyone betting that Starliner would finally have its first crewed test on Tuesday bet wrong, because the Starliner launch has been bumped again, according to a NASA release.
This marks the third time this month that this test flight— the crucial final hurdle Boeing must clear before it can finally start toting astronauts into space, as we’ve previously noted—has been delayed.
This time, the launch date has been moved to no sooner than 3:09 p.m. EST, this Saturday, May 25 because they needed more time to “work through spacecraft closeout processes and flight rationale.”
Specifically, the last delay was because Starliner engineers discovered a leak on the service module. They’ve now figured out that the leak is coming from a flange on a control system thruster that uses helium to get the thruster to fire. Officials also have found, according to the release, that the leak is stable and shouldn’t be an issue for the flight.
“Pressure testing performed on May 15 on the spacecraft’s helium system showed the leak in the flange is stable and would not pose a risk at that level during the flight,” according to the federal space agency’s release. “The testing also indicated the rest of the thruster system is sealed effectively across the entire service module. Boeing teams are working to develop operational procedures to ensure the system retains sufficient performance capability and appropriate redundancy during the flight.”
But since pushing the flight to this Saturday, at the earliest, gives officials more time to further evaluate the leak before two astronauts get into the capsule and get shot into space at the top of an Atlas V rocket, that’s what they’ve done.
On the upside, the two astronauts assigned to this mission haven’t been cooling their heels in Florida all this time. Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Willmore had been in pre-flight training at the John F. Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida ahead of the May 6 launch that was scrubbed just two hours before takeoff but have been back in Houston since May 10 to be with their families, according to the release.
They’ll head back to Florida whenever it gets close to an actual launch time. So at least there’s that.
Dianna Wray
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