Slow Speed Ahead: Boeing Struggles with Starliner Valve Issues as Second Flight Test Delayed to Next Year
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
Boeing said on Tuesday that it will delay the second uncrewed flight test of its Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) until sometime in the first half of next year due to ongoing problems with stuck oxidizer valves on the vehicle. A crewed flight test would follow about six months later, with the first commercial mission carrying NASA astronauts in 2023.
The revised schedule could placed the flight about 2.5 years after the first automated flight test in December 2019, which failed to reach ISS due to software and communications problems. The vehicle landed safely after an abbreviated two-day orbital flight.
Boeing and NASA officials discussed the latest delay in the troubled program during a media conference on Tuesday. The space agency expressed confidence in the troubled company, which is developing Starliner to carry astronauts to and from the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Boeing said it believes that 13 of 24 valves on its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft became stuck prior to an August 3 launch attempt after nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer permeated Teflon seals and mixed with excessive moisture and water to form nitric acid. The discovery was made hours before Starliner was set to launch aboard an United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida.
Engineers were able to free up nine of the 13 valves on the launch pad, but the other four remained stuck. The Starliner spacecraft was removed from its launch vehicle and returned to the production facility so valves could be removed for analysis.
Boeing is sending two of the troublesome valves to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, where engineers will conduct CT scans on them. Tests on similar valves are also being conducted at White Sands Missile Range.
Boeing said the company is evaluating whether to add heaters to the valves to keep them from getting stuck. Engineers will also add desiccant to vent holes near the valves to prevent moisture from seeping in.
Boeing is already running years behind schedule on Starliner. The delays have put additional pressure on SpaceX, which will fly the first five Commercial Crew missions using its Crew Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX’s third crewed flight is scheduled to lift off on Oct. 31 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
19 responses to “Slow Speed Ahead: Boeing Struggles with Starliner Valve Issues as Second Flight Test Delayed to Next Year”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
it will be interesting to see what they come up with here in terms of a root cause.
They’re already talking about dessicants at the vents, but it’s going to take more than that
thats worked in the past. I think I understand now how this happened and who is to blame…my ownj opinion of course
I believe it may have been failure to allow for prolonged exposure to humidity, along with failure to follow established procedures properly.
Edge case errors.
All of the proposed fixes are bandaids. Not real fixes. This is not good on a manned spacecraft.
So another space race, one between Boeing fixing it’s Starliner to fly to the ISS and the ISS surviving the failures on the Russian elements long enough to be there as a destination for it….
I thought sudden death was in tournaments, not vehicle development.
Think one of the interesting space race is Boeing getting their first operational Starliner flight to the ISS before SpaceX flown their sixth and final guaranteed operational crew Dragon flight. Then NASA will have to decide if they buy more crew Dragon flights or take their chances with several Starliner flights in a row with Boeing’s iffy flight history.
Steve Stich re-iterated a few days ago that NASA intends to alternate Starliner and Dragon for ISS crew rotations… Whenever Starliner becomes ready.
SpaceX will be awarded a Commercial Crew Transport Capability Phase 2 contract for more Dragon rotations to the ISS. NASA did the same for Commercial Resupply Services (“CRS Phase 2”) as both contractors in that program neared the completion of the originally-contracted flights.
…Dragon rotations to the ISS…
That sounds more like the Russians’ specialty.
😀
BTW NASA just released the solicitation for additional Commercial Crew Transportation Capability missions to the ISS today:
https://sam.gov/opp/3ae9296c494a4e3698c7fbc01865b764/viewOnce awarded this will become CCtCap2 I think. We all know right now there is really only 1 bidder who can satisfy the terms listed in the solicitation 🙂
The clock is ticking for Axiom. They better get their station built and detached from the ISS before the Russians finally wreck the place with their docked spacecraft doing cartwheels. 😛
Interestingly, the point has been made elsewhere that the Apollo-1 fire may have helped save Apollo-13 for related reasons.
One of the design changes after Apollo-1 was to use electrical switches that were enclosed such that any arc they may create would have virtually no chance of starting another fire in its 100% oxygen air.
That same step may have also kept Apollo-13’s command module capable of safely powering up again on batteries before re-entry, despite concern that days of being shut down and cold moisture condensation on the way back, could have compromised and shorted that same hardware…
…troubled program…troubled company…troublesome valves…
I get the impression that you suspect these guys are in trouble.
And they came so highly recommended…
Question: Was this an issue on the first flight? I’m betting not, so why is it an issue now? Design change? Subcontractor change?
Not mitigating moisture intrusion into engine plumbing. In Florida. During summer.
Even a Midwestern farmer knows that one, Boeing’s Starliner engineers not so much.
Remember, it is the first spacecraft capsule the Boeing group has built in 50 years, so it’s all new to them. By contrast the SpaceX engineers had years of experience building and flying the cargo Dragon. You need to give the newbies of Boeing some slack for having to learn on the job how to do it. Plus Boeing likely put all their top engineers on building the USAF X-37B and couldn’t use them on the Starliner.
That’s opposite of the way it was being talked up just a few short years ago. Boeing Safety Culture ring a bell?