Boeing postpones Starliner test flight indefinitely – IT Pro – News

The test flight of Boeing’s Starline vehicle has been indefinitely postponed after a problem with valves in the vehicle’s propulsion system. NASA and Boeing told you this week.

“Obviously, this is a disappointing day,” NASA chief of human spaceflight Kathy Lueders told a news conference. Space.com. “But I want to emphasize that this is another example of why these experimental missions are incredibly important to us.” The Starliner will now perform a test flight once NASA and Boeing are “ready.”

According to NASA and Boeing, the problems were there valves From the Starliner payment system. The two companies would have discovered that thirteen of these valves did not open, causing the test flight to be delayed, he writes CNBC. Boeing-vice president John Vollmer reported working with the manufacturer of these valves, Aerojet Rocketdyne, to determine the cause and fix the problems.

A Boeing Starliner is scheduled to be launched to the International Space Station earlier this month aboard an Atlas V rocket from the United Launch Alliance. That task was repeated Failed test flight of 2019, where the car spent two days in orbit, but due to problems with flight controlThe system failed to reach the International Space Station because it ended up in a wrong orbit. Then the Starliner parachuted into New Mexico.

The last launch was originally scheduled for July 30, but was postponed due to a problem with the ISS Nauka module that caused the space station to tilt. After that, launch postponed again, due to a problem with the drive. The company initially talked about trying a new launch in August, but has now announced that this won’t work. No specific timeframe for another launch has been revealed, but NASA says the launch “definitely” comes after another NASA mission scheduled for October. So it will take at least another two months before NASA and Boeing can conduct the test flight again.