by Elton Gomes
Boeing postponed the flight schedule of its Starliner capsule by several months, the aircraft company said on a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. The capsule reportedly suffered a failure during a test conducted in June. It was being built to fly US astronauts to the International Space Station.
“The resulting schedule that we have will support an uncrewed flight test in late 2018 or early 2019,” Boeing vice president John Mulholland said, CNBC reported. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is still optimistic about flying its Crew Dragon spacecraft for the first time later this year without people on board, and then launch a manned flight in April 2019.
On Thursday, NASA released an updated schedule of the crew test flights, thereby confirming that both Boeing and SpaceX plans were delayed. As per the new schedule, SpaceX is slated to fly an uncrewed mission in November 2018, which is three months later than the previous schedule. The crewed mission could happen in April 2019 – four months later than previously announced.
In May 2018, it was reported that both – SpaceX and Boeing – were engaged in intense development, testing, and assembly programs to prepare the flights as soon as possible. Although both companies seemed to be on track with developing their spacecrafts, a NASA report said that “delays persist as the contractors have had difficulty executing aggressive schedules.”
Boeing’s space division was previously planning to test their unmanned flight in August, with the estimated range giving the company six more months for preparation. The present delay of the first Starliner flight means that Boeing’s pad abort test and crewed flight test are delayed to spring 2019 and the middle of 2019, respectively.
On the other side, SpaceX is busy updating its cargo capsule so that it can carry seven crew, and it looks like Crew Dragon will fly on top of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. Before both vehicles are considered operational, NASA wants the companies to conduct manned and unmanned flight tests of the capsules.
What this means for NASA
American astronauts have never been launched from US soil since 2011. The US government has had to shell out $70 million and $80 million for two seats on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, so that American astronauts can reach and work at the International Space Station.
Further delays could restrict NASA’s ability concerning the International Space Station, as its access runs out by 2020. If NASA does not develop options for ensuring access to the ISS in the event of further Commercial Crew delays, it will not be able to ensure that the U.S. policy goal and objective for the ISS will be met, a July 11 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office stated, as reported by Space News.
To avoid such circumstances, NASA is considering to use the crewed flight test as a crew rotation flight by adding a third astronaut to the mission, thereby attempting to extend it stay. NASA was in talks with Boeing to assess the feasibility of the option. But on August 1, Mulholland said that no decision would be taken about using the test flight in that fashion until next year.
Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius