Boeing has confirmed that it is continuing to seek solutions to problems with its Starliner spacecraft that have left the over-budget project unable to carry passengers.
Boeing said this week that it is actively working to fix helium leaks from seals on the spacecraft, as well as addressing issues with thermal shunts and overheating engines.
Company representatives have already announced that the next flight of the spacecraft will not take place before the beginning of next year and will most likely be carried out only with cargo, without a crew.
Boeing is working with its engine supplier, California-based defense contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, to find ways to address the current problems.
Starliner has faced numerous challenges, is already more than $2 billion over budget, and is currently moored at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Its first test flight was scheduled for June 2024.
The final flight occurred in September 2024, when the uncrewed craft returned from the International Space Station, landing at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico.
The uncrewed return was undertaken as a precaution due to helium leaks and engine problems, which resulted in NASA's two-person crew remaining aboard the ISS.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams only returned to Earth in March of this year on a SpaceX Dragon rocket with the company's crew. Wilmore and Williams spent nine months in space due to problems with the Boeing Starliner.
“The decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and return Boeing’s Starliner home uncrewed is a result of our commitment to safety: our core value and our North Star,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the time.
“I am grateful to the NASA and Boeing teams for their incredible and meticulous work.”
Boeing announced the Starliner program in 2010 and originally planned for the ship to begin regular flights by 2015 to transport NASA personnel to and from the ISS.
More than a decade later, problems remain and the company has yet to sign a multi-billion dollar contract with NASA.
“We do intend to launch Starliner early next year, and then eventually our goal is to begin flying crew rotations on Starliner,” NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich told reporters this week.
“And they won't start until the second crew change at the end of next year.”
Work continues despite NASA's predictions that the ISS will deorbit and crash into the South Pacific Ocean near Point Nemo in January 2031.
Former President Joe Biden's administration said the space station would remain operational until 2030 after its launch in 1998.
Boeing shares fell $2.42, or 1.05 percent, to $228.58 by midday Friday. The stock was also down for the week.
Sourse: www.upi.com
