NASA’s uncertainty over Starliner astronaut capsule made clear as Boeing is told to take 61 ‘corrective actions’ after failed mission sent craft into wrong the wrong orbit
- Boeing will have to address 61 corrective actions outlined by NASA
- The mandate comes after a botched mission from Starliner late last year
- NASA has yet to say whether it will require another Starliner test flight
NASA says it doesn’t know if another passenger-less test launch is on the horizon for Boeing’s Starliner capsule after a glitch with the craft’s software sent the capsule hurtling into the wrong orbit late last year.
The agency made its uncertainty known during a press conference announcing that it had finished an investigation into the failed mission in December.
Its investigation prompted NASA to come up with 61 corrective actions that Boeing needs to carry out before Starliner is cleared for flight.
Boeing’s Starliner (rendered) will need to address 61 corrective actions from NASA as a result of an investigation into a botched missions late last year
NASA has refused to say whether the craft will be forced to undergo another test flight before being granted permission to bring human astronauts into space.
‘Quite frankly, right now, we don’t know,’ Doug Loverro, NASA’s associate administrator for human spaceflight, said during a recent press conference on the investigation.
‘The findings and the corrective actions that Boeing has laid out — they have to now come back to NASA with a plan, how they’re going to go ahead and address all of those.’
NASA hasn’t gone into depth on what exactly the issues were but according to CNBC, the agency said they center on three main technical and design issues.
Boeing has reportedly already set aside money for another test flight in the event NASA deems that it’s necessary.
NASA also said that despite winding the current investigation down, it will also launch a separate investigation into two instances in which the craft was nearly lost.
Specifically, NASA will probe into a near crash with Starliner’s service module that occurred while attempting to bring it back down to Earth and also a software glitch that could have caused the wrong thrusters to fire upon re-entry and could have lead to a complete loss upon re-entry.
The agency says it will formalize a team to investigate the close call which is protocol for mishaps like those involving Starliner. NASA says the investigations are meant to prevent future accidents.
News of the corrections follow prior reports that suggest Boeing didn’t perform a full ‘end-to-end’ integration test of the software designed to automate maneuvers after the craft is launched into space.
From left to right: NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, President and CEO of United Launch Alliance Tory Bruno, and senior vice president of Boeing’s Space and Launch Division Jim Chilton spoke to the media after a software glitch caused Boeing’s Starliner to launch into the wrong orbit
The Orlando Sentinel, who first highlighted NASA’s findings, reports that the exhaustive test may have prevented an aborted mission.
In December, a glitch in the mission timing software caused Starliner to run to a different time than expected – it was 11 hours ahead – which triggered burns and control movements too early into its flight toward the International Space Station (ISS).
As a result, the craft burned up fuel that it needed to get to the station and was forced to abort its mission and return to Earth.
NASA has ordered a re-evaluation of all the software aboard Starliner which involves reassessing millions of lines of code according to The Sentinel.
Likely increasing scrutiny on the company are software issues related to its line of airplanes which caused multiple fatal crashes and the deaths of 346 people.
WHEN DID NASA LAST LAUNCH CREWED MISSIONS FROM THE US?
Shuttle Columbia is shown during lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center in 2003
NASA launched its first space shuttle, Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-1), from the Kennedy Space Center on April 12, 1981.
In the three decades that followed, the space agency deployed a total of 135 missions from US soil.
Columbia was only the beginning; following in its footsteps, NASA launched Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor to carry people to orbit.
These launches also allowed for the construction of the International Space Station – the largest structure in space, that’s now home to a revolving crew of astronauts from all around the world, conducting important experiments that continue to advance our knowledge of the cosmos.
The shuttle missions came to an end with the Atlantis shuttle on July 21, 2011 after STS-135.
In the years since, NASA has had to rely on Russian modules to send astronauts to the ISS, all of which launch from foreign soil.
Now, the space agency is stepping up efforts to bring crewed launches back home.
On August 3, 2018, NASA revealed the nine astronauts that will soon take to space aboard the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon, to pioneer a ‘new era in American spaceflight.’
The crew flight tests will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in 2019.
The shuttle missions came to an end with the Atlantis shuttle on July 21, 2011 after STS-135. Above, Atlantis lands at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fl, marking the official end of the 30-year program