Boeing postpones unmanned space flight with Starliner capsule until the end of 2018

Boeing has announced that it will not conduct an unmanned test flight with ‘space taxi’ Starliner this month. There were problems during an earlier test of the abort motor. The company says it will conduct the test flight at the end of this year.

Boeing’s John Mulholland has also announced that the space capsule’s first manned flight, with astronauts on board, is also being rescheduled; this will now take place sometime in mid-2019. According to him, NASA takes these data into account and they are realistic, Ars Technica writes.

A major reason for the delay is a problem that arose during a test of the Starliner capsule, in which the abort motor was ignited for 1.5 seconds. That went well, but then four of the eight washers turned out to be stuck and not closing as intended. As a result, hydrazine, a component of rocket fuel, leaked. The problem should have been resolved by now.

The abort motor is part of the launch escape system, which, for example, should ensure that the space capsule with the crew quickly launches itself away from the rocket in the event of a problematic launch. The test with this system has been postponed to the spring of 2019.

Boeing is developing the Starliner as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, flying astronauts to the ISS in private space capsules. Starliner, which includes 600 parts made with 3D printers, can accommodate seven astronauts and must go up with United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket. This rocket will be taken out of service in a few years, although the capsule is also suitable for the Vulcan rocket, the successor to Atlas V.