According to foreign media The Verge, the first key test flight of Boeing's new commercial manned spacecraft was postponed again after an engine test accident more than a month ago. The manned spacecraft, known as the CST-100 Starliner, plans to conduct two important test flights this year. But now, the test failure forced Boeing to change its original plan, and the two key test flights may now be postponed until 2019.
Boeing is developing Starliner as part of NASA's commercial manned program, which aims to send humans to the International Space Station through spacecraft built by private companies in the United States. These spacecraft will be able to accommodate seven passengers and will be launched in the Atlas V rocket carrying the United Launch Alliance (ULA). Before the spacecraft was considered operational, NASA hoped that Boeing would conduct an unmanned and manned flight test to determine if it was ready to travel regularly to the International Space Station.
According to a recent timetable, Starliner plans to conduct an unmanned test flight for the first time in August, followed by a manned flight test in November. But Boeing said on Wednesday that the spacecraft is expected to be unmanned test flight later this year or early 2019, and then the first manned test flight will be in mid-year in 2019. In addition, Boeing will conduct another type of test at the end of this summer to try out Starliner's suspension system, which is designed to ensure future passengers remain safe when problems occur on the launch pad. Four engines are embedded beneath the spacecraft to ignite and push the Starliner away from the failed rocket. It was not until the spring of 2019 that the system could be tested after an unmanned flight test.
The delay appears to have originated from an engine failure that occurred during the June test. Boeing is testing Starliner's launch abort engine. Boeing said that everything was normal when the engine was ignited. However, several engine valves failed to close, causing propellant leakage. The Hardware tested was not damaged and no one was injured. Boeing said it is investigating what is happening and is making adjustments.
Starliner vice president and project manager John Mulholland said at a press conference on Wednesday: "We have a dedicated team of our company staff and contractors who are working hard to implement these corrective actions." He said Boeing will adopt Design and operational changes to ensure these valves are completely closed.
Previous reports from the US Government Accountability Office predicted that the milestone flights of the commercial manned plan would lag behind, and Boeing’s spacecraft would not be able to travel regularly to the International Space Station by February 2020. It is unclear whether this failure will change the assessment of the Office of Government Accountability, but Boeing claims that its test program is currently 80% complete.
At the same time, NASA's other commercial manned program partner, SpaceX, has yet to update its test flight. SpaceX is developing its own manned spacecraft, the Crew Dragon. As part of the project, SpaceX is still planning to conduct its first unmanned test flight in August and carry out manned flights in December. However, the company did not give any instructions on the date, and the plan is expected to change in view of the government accountability office report.
NASA will announce the crew of the first commercial manned plan on August 3. NASA may provide a schedule update for SpaceX.
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