The Boeing Starliner, is set to undock from the ISS on June 22. This is a several day delay. During its current mission, the spacecraft has encountered a fifth helium leak and a stuck oxidizer valve.
Teams currently are assessing what impacts, if any, five small leaks in the service module helium manifolds would have on the remainder of the mission. Engineers evaluated the helium supply based on current leak rates and determined that Starliner has plenty of margin to support the return trip from station. Only seven hours of free-flight time is needed to perform a normal end of mission, and Starliner currently has enough helium left in its tanks to support 70 hours of free flight activity following undocking. While Starliner is docked, all the manifolds are closed per normal mission operations preventing helium loss from the tanks.
Engineers also are evaluating an RCS oxidizer isolation valve in the service module that is not properly closed. Ground teams performed a successful propulsion system valve checkout on Sunday. All other oxidizer and fuel valves within the service module were cycled normally. The suspect oxidizer isolation valve was not cycled in the recent checkout. It will remain commanded closed for the remainder of the mission while ground teams continue to evaluate its data signatures. The crew module propulsion valves, which are part of an independent system that steers the capsule in the last phase of flight before landing, also were successfully cycled, and all those valves are performing as designed.
Boeing's Starliner Return Delayed to June 22: Remember, these are the people that allowed the Starliner to take off with a known helium leak and developed more once it got in to space! pic.twitter.com/G7rGKy9g0T
— John Cremeans USA (@JohnCremeansUSA) June 14, 2024
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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Given Boeing’s track record lately (including revelations today about retaliations against whistleblowers), I hope the astronauts make it back safely.
It must be hilarious riding in that ship.
Everyone breathing Helium and sounding like Donald Duck.
Just imagine Donald Duck in his voice, saying: “We’re all gonna die.”
Let’s hope they fixed the side panels of the craft with fasteners and bolts. Forgetting to do this apparently is an option at Boeing.
It’s not leaking into the cabin.
I wonder if fake titanium has anything to do with this?
The Feds Want to Know How Fake Titanium Got in Boeing’s Planes:
https://gizmodo.com/boeing-planes-fake-titanium-faa-investigation-1851541451
Meanwhile, work on another launcher technology marches on, though I’m not sure if it’s practical or not:
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/rocket-company-develops-massive-catapult-180000267.html
Boeing does slovenly work.
At least the door/hatch has stayed on – so far.
And NASA has still man rated this lemon
You can’t say management at Boeing is inconsistent. In fact, they are remarkably consistent.
One even starts wondering if this level of incompetence over such a long period could be sabotage.
yeah, sabotage, of course. And the same people who sabotaged Boeing also “SUICIDED” the two whistleblowers that were saying Boeing was at a fault. Just to appear Boeing did it.