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ASAP reviews Boeing failure, positive SpaceX success ahead of Commercial Crew announcement
As NASA prepares to provide updated launch date targets for the uncrewed and crewed Commercial Crew demonstration missions from both SpaceX and Boeing – as well as flight crew assignments for each provider – the agency's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) held its quarterly meeting last Thursday, during which they outlined a failure on Boeing's part that could potentially lead to a redesign of a critical element of Starliner. The ASAP also outlined multiple points of positive progress on SpaceX's part.
As was first reported by Eric Berger on Ars Technica, Boeing suffered a test stand failure of Starliner's critical pad abort thrusters in late-June, a failure that reportedly ended with the leaking of volatile propellant from the thruster system.
In multiple statements to numerous outlets thereafter, Boeing stated that they were "confident we found the cause and are moving forward with corrective action." But that wasn't quite the take-away from the ASAP meeting that occurred days after the company issued its statement.
"Boeing recently conducted a hot fire test for their low-altitude abort milestone for the CST-100," noted a member of the ASAP panel. "And there was an anomaly on that test that we need to better understand in terms of its potential impact on the design and operation and the schedule. And so although there's a lot of interest in this issue, Boeing has asked for some additional time to step back and understand that a little better."
New launch target dates, as well as the names of the astronauts assigned to fly to the ISS on Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon, will be announced on Friday, August 3, at 11 AM EDT.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday July 31 2018, @08:33PM (2 children)
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 31 2018, @09:12PM (1 child)
Erin was a little boy around the age of nine. He was precocious, kind, and well-liked by everyone at and outside of his school. And today was a very special day for Erin. You see, it was his first time.
His first time. It was his first time being brutally raped in the anus. It was his first time having his ankle twisted and broken. It was his first time being stabbed in the back by a screwdriver. It was his first time having his tummy slit open with a ceramic knife. And it was his first time having his neck snapped. The man known as Blowham stole all of Erin's first times from him, and he did it all with a gentle, loving smile on his face, while only occasionally stopping to laugh like a maniac. Erin was well-liked indeed.
Thank you, Blowham! Thank you so much!
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday July 31 2018, @10:10PM
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]