Boeing’s first astronaut mission for NASA has been delayed once more.
The aerospace large now plans to launch the primary crewed flight of its Starliner capsule, a two-astronaut check flight to the International Space Station (ISS), no sooner than April 2023, two months later than the earlier goal.
“The date adjustment deconflicts visiting spacecraft visitors on the space station as NASA and Boeing work collectively to realize flight readiness,” NASA officers wrote in an update on Thursday (opens in new tab) (Nov. 3).
Associated: Boeing’s Starliner, a next-generation spaceship
Boeing had beforehand eyed December 2022 for the liftoff of its first crewed mission, which is called Crew Flight Check (CFT). However in late August, that concentrate on was pushed back to February 2023 to permit extra time to deal with points recognized in the course of the capsule’s first journey to the ISS.
That mission, the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2), occurred in Could. Because the title suggests, it was Starliner’s second crack at an uncrewed check flight to the ISS. Throughout the first try, in December 2019, Starliner suffered quite a lot of software program issues and bought caught within the fallacious orbit for a rendezvous with the orbiting lab.
OFT-2 was profitable, but it surely did not go completely easily. Starliner suffered some minor anomalies, resembling issues with a number of of its thrusters, that NASA and Boeing are nonetheless finding out within the leadup to CFT’s launch.
“Starliner and United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket {hardware} stay on observe for readiness in early 2023,” NASA officers wrote within the replace. “The joint workforce continues to shut out the OFT-2 anomalies and accomplice carefully collectively to determine ahead work and guarantee all necessities for crewed flight are met.”
The crewmembers for CFT are NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams. The mission is predicted to final about two weeks — greater than twice so long as the six-day OFT-2. If all goes effectively with the approaching flight, Starliner will possible be licensed for operational missions, which Boeing will begin flying underneath a contract it signed with NASA in 2014.
SpaceX holds an identical NASA deal and is already flying operational crewed missions to the ISS with its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule. Elon Musk’s firm launched the fifth of these contracted flights, the Crew-5 mission, on Oct. 5.
SpaceX and NASA are focusing on mid-February 2023 for the launch of the following one, Crew-6. That liftoff is seemingly a part of the ISS visitors problem that the CFT launch slip will assist resolve.
Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a guide concerning the seek for alien life. Comply with him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
