NASA again postpones the second test flight of the Boeing Starliner capsule

NASA again postpones the second test flight of the Boeing Starliner capsule

Previous intermediate checks of the Starliner spacecraft before the second test flight were completed with repair and restoration work, after which the launch was postponed from March 25 to April 2. However, as expected, the second Boeing Starliner capsule test flight for NASA really won’t occur on April 2.

Nasa test flight

NASA and Boeing have announced that the second uncrewed Starliner test flight to the ISS (OFT-2) may not take place at all in April. ” NASA is also weighing the number of checks and analyzes required before the test flight, and is also agreeing on a timetable for the spacecraft’s flight to the International Space Station,” the statement said.

April is already a busy time at the orbital laboratory: the current Russian crew is expected to be replaced by the delivery of new specialists by the Soyuz spacecraft and the new SpaceX Crew-2 mission, which will deliver new astronauts from NASA and JAXA. Boeing cannot move the launch date from April 2 to a later date in the same month, but a new date for the spacecraft’s orbital tests has yet to be set, the statement said.

OFT-2 should be a crucial milestone in the Starliner program as Boeing aims to recover from a failed mission in December 2019, when the spacecraft did not reach the ISS in unmanned mode. NASA identified 80 items to be corrected before the next launch, and Boeing had to spend a lot of time fixing the shortcomings.

Boeing has already conducted test runs and is due to launch a full simulated mission to allow the task force to practice before the actual launch. Power-up tests and other tests of Starliner OFT-2 with new avionics units have also been successfully carried out. Everything is ready for fueling the spacecraft and assembling it with a launch vehicle, which should occur shortly.

NASA plans to use SpaceX Dragon and Boeing Starliner spacecraft to deliver most of the American cosmonauts to the ISS, breaking its dependence on Russia, which used the Soyuz spacecraft to deliver all astronauts into orbit between 2011 and 2020, after the US space shuttle program collapsed. Both American ships can accommodate four people, not three, as in the Soyuz.