Boeing sets new launch date for Starliner's maiden crewed mission

                              Photo credit: United Launch Alliance

Boeing’s Starliner has a new launch date after United Launch Alliance replaced a pressure regulation valve that scrubbed last week’s launch attempt.

According to a news release, NASA, Boeing, and ULA are now targeting no earlier than 4:43 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21, at at Space Launch Complex 41 in Cape Canaveral.

Boeing said the ULA team successfully replaced the pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur upper stage on Sunday. That replacement required the Starliner spacecraft to be rolled back to the Vertical Integration Facility.

After running tests on the replaced valve, it performed normally, officials said.

In addition, officials said that Starliner teams are working to resolve a small helium leak found in the spacecraft’s service module traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster.

The troublesome valve was replaced and is behaving normally, Boeing representatives said in today's update. 

The newfound helium leak, they added, has been traced to a "flange on a single reaction control system thruster" in Starliner's service module. These thrusters don't burn helium, but the gas allows them to fire properly.

"NASA and Boeing are developing spacecraft testing and operational solutions to address the issue," Boeing wrote in the update. "As a part of the testing, Boeing will bring the propulsion system up to flight pressurization just as it does prior to launch, and then allow the helium system to vent naturally to validate existing data and strengthen flight rationale."

                                                      Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams (Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are still in pre-flight quarantine but returned to Houston on Friday to spend more time with their families as prelaunch operations progress.

They will fly back to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the coming days, officials said.

The scrubbed attempt adds to Starliner’s long list of delays as Boeing grappled with continued technical issues. The project is running years behind schedule.

 

 

By Azhar

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