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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday April 08 2018, @09:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the about-that-short-trip... dept.

NASA wants to extend Boeing's first crewed flight to the International Space Station

Boeing's first crewed flight to the International Space Station may last a lot longer than originally planned — and the mission may have an extra crew member along for the ride, too. The company's Starliner vehicle is supposed to take NASA astronauts to the ISS for the first time later this year on a two-week trip, but the space agency is considering extending the voyage to six months. Instead of sending just a two-person crew on the spacecraft, a third astronaut could be added as well.

This would completely restructure the first crewed trip for Starliner, which was only meant to be a test flight. As part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, both Boeing and SpaceX have been developing private vehicles to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. But before the companies can start doing full missions to the station, NASA wants each spacecraft to do two test flights to the ISS first: one without people on board and then one with crew. The two-person test flights are simply meant to demonstrate that the vehicles can keep passengers safe on the way to and from orbit. Full operational missions will last for months at a time and have up to four crew members on board.

Now, Boeing's test flight is looking more like a full crewed mission — the kind that it will be doing regularly once its Starliner is qualified for flight. That may be because NASA is running short of ways to get its astronauts to the ISS. NASA astronauts currently fly to the station on Russian Soyuz rockets, and the space agency has seats booked on flights of the vehicle for the next two years. The last Soyuz that will carry NASA astronauts will take off in fall 2019. After that, NASA will need to rely on its Commercial Crew partners to take astronauts to and from the ISS.


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NASA Prepared to Purchase Two More Soyuz Seats From Roscosmos 2 comments

Due to delays and potential delays in launching crew to the International Space Station (ISS) using American-made spacecraft, NASA is prepared to purchase two more seats to the ISS from Russia's Roscosmos:

Despite the scheduled return of US domestic crew launch capability this year, NASA is set to purchase more rides on the Russian Soyuz through 2020. The agency is adhering to a recommendation from its Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) after concerns were raised about the lack of a back-up option covering the potential delays that could be suffered during a challenging test flight phase for Dragon 2 and Starliner.

[...] "Past experience has shown the difficulties associated with achieving first flights on time in the final year of development. Typically, problems will be discovered during these test flights. The consequences of no US crew on ISS warrant protection by acquiring additional seats. The absence of U.S. crewmembers at any point would diminish ISS operations to an inoperable state," noted a procurement document published on February 13. "NASA is considering contracting with the State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" for these services on a sole source basis for two (2) Soyuz seats and associated services to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft vehicle. This transportation would be for one crewmember in the Fall of 2019 and one crewmember in the Spring of 2020."

The two seats in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 seem to be in reference to the Soyuz MS-15 and MS-16 flights. Soyuz MS-15 currently has its third seat occupied by a paying spaceflight participant – who will now likely be bumped to accommodate a permanent US Station crewmember – and Soyuz MS-16 is a schedule two-person flight with a vacant third seat available.

While the action does not point to an increase in uncertainty over the progress being made by Commercial Crew providers, it does cite the wish to avoid placing schedule pressure on the companies, an issue that still haunts NASA after it was determined to have played a direct role in the loss of Shuttle Challenger in 1986.

Also at Space News and Ars Technica.

Previously: Boeing Crewed Test Flight to the ISS May be Upgraded to a Full Mission
SpaceX and Boeing Not Ready to Transport Astronauts to the International Space Station
SpaceX, Boeing (and NASA) Push Back 1st Test Launches of Private Spaceships

Related: NASA Confident in Soyuz, Ready for Crewed Launch in December


Original Submission

Reuters: Boeing Starliner Flights to the ISS Delayed by at Least Another 3 Months 13 comments

Boeing delays by months test flights for U.S. human space program: sources

Boeing Co has delayed by at least three months its first uncrewed flight to the International Space Station under NASA's human spaceflight program, and pushed its crewed flight until November, industry sources said on Wednesday.

Reuters reported last month that NASA has warned Boeing and rival contractor SpaceX of design and safety concerns the companies need to address before flying humans to space.

Boeing's first test flight was slated for April but it has been pushed to August, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The new schedule means that Boeing's crewed mission, initially scheduled for August, will be delayed until November.

Also at Spaceflight Insider, Astronomy Magazine, and BGR.

Related:


Original Submission

Boeing Hit With 61 Safety Fixes for Astronaut Capsule 11 comments

Boeing hit with 61 safety fixes for astronaut capsule:

In releasing the outcome of a joint investigation, NASA said it still has not decided whether to require Boeing to launch the Starliner again without a crew, or go straight to putting astronauts on board.

Douglas Loverro, NASA's human exploration and operation chief, told reporters that Boeing must first present a plan and schedule for the 61 corrective actions. Boeing expects to have a plan in NASA's hands by the end of this month.

Loverro said the space agency wants to verify, among other things, that Boeing has retested all the necessary software for Starliner.

"At the end of the day, what we have got to decide is ... do we have enough confidence to say we are ready to fly with a crew or do we believe that we need another uncrewed testing," Loverro said.

Boeing's Jim Chilton, a senior vice president, said his company is ready to repeat a test flight without a crew, if NASA decides on one.

"'All of us want crew safety No. 1," Chilton said. "Whatever testing we've got to do to make that happen, we embrace it."

Loverro said he felt compelled to designate the test flight as a "high-visibility close call." He said that involves more scrutiny of Boeing and NASA to make sure mistakes like this don't happen again.

Software errors not only left the Starliner in the wrong orbit following liftoff and precluded a visit to the International Space Station but they could have caused a collision between the capsule and its separated service module toward the end of the two-day flight. That error was caught and corrected by ground controllers just hours before touchdown.

Citation: Boeing hit with 61 safety fixes for astronaut capsule (2020, March 6) retrieved 6 March 2020 from https://phys.org/news/2020-03-boeing-safety-astronaut-capsule.html

Boeing to Launch Starliner Spacecraft for Second Go at Reaching the ISS after First Mission Failed 7 comments

Boeing to Launch Starliner Spacecraft for Second go at Reaching the ISS After First Mission Failed:

On Monday, Boeing announced it will take a second shot at sending an uncrewed Starliner to the station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The program aims to launch astronauts from US soil for the first time since the end of the space shuttle era in 2011.

[...] "We have chosen to refly our Orbital Flight Test to demonstrate the quality of the Starliner system," Boeing in a brief statement. "Flying another uncrewed flight will allow us to complete all flight test objectives and evaluate the performance of the second Starliner vehicle at no cost to the taxpayer."

Boeing and NASA have not yet revealed a date for the launch. Starliner must pass its uncrewed flight tests before NASA uses it to send astronauts to the ISS.

Do not cry too much for Boeing as they are the prime contractor for the SLS (Space launch System) which is currently funded to the tune of over $1 billion per year.

Previously:
(2020-03-07) Boeing Hit With 61 Safety Fixes for Astronaut Capsule
(2020-03-01) Boeing Acknowledges "Gaps" in its Starliner Software Testing
(2020-02-07) NASA Safety Panel Calls for Reviews after Second Starliner Software Problem
(2019-12-24) Boeing Starliner Lands Safely in the Desert After Failing to Reach Correct Orbit
(2019-12-23) Boeing's Failed Starliner Mission Strains 'Reliability' Pitch
(2019-12-20) Starliner Fails to Make Journey to ISS
(2019-11-19) Boeing Provides Damage Control After Inspector General's Report on Commercial Crew Program
(2019-11-06) Boeing Performs Starliner Pad Abort Test. Declares Success Though 1 of 3 Parachutes Fails to Deploy.
(2019-09-03) Boeing Readies "Astronaut" for Likely October Test Launch
(2018-04-07) Boeing Crewed Test Flight to the ISS May be Upgraded to a Full Mission

Click to search SoylentNews for more Starliner stories.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by MostCynical on Sunday April 08 2018, @11:27AM (6 children)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Sunday April 08 2018, @11:27AM (#663914) Journal

    this is a test. Remember, if anything goes wrong, you two, oops, sorry, three were expendable.

    Seems like they are taking the worst bits (lack of safety) of the 1950's and 60's with the worst expenditure practices of the 2000's.

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by turgid on Sunday April 08 2018, @12:36PM

      by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Sunday April 08 2018, @12:36PM (#663919) Journal

      Maybe, however it might be that modern methods of space capsule development are far more sophisticated and there is much greater confidence in the reliability of the vehicle.

    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Immerman on Sunday April 08 2018, @01:59PM (4 children)

      by Immerman (3985) on Sunday April 08 2018, @01:59PM (#663934)

      If there's a life-ending problem it's probably going to be on the way up, or maybe on the way down. If something goes wrong while they're docked at the ISS, they can (hopefully) evacuate to the station. Basically, if people are risking their lives going up and down, they can at least do something useful while they're there.

      I am surprised that they're planning to send crew on the second test flight though - how many automated missions has the SpaceX Dragon capsule already flown and NASA still hasn't authorized a manned test? Guess Boeing gets special consideration thanks to their considerable political connections decades of prior experience. But you wouldn't catch me on the second flight of a mostly untested capsule. This isn't the bad old days of spaceflight where a crew was an important part of the flight control systems.

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