Washington (AFP)
Boeing's struggling Starliner space capsule could face further delays after the company said Thursday it was working to resolve issues with oxidation valves in the propulsion system.
The spacecraft's last launch to the International Space Station, scheduled for August 4, has been canceled due to problems in the propulsion system, and it is still unclear when the next test flight will be scheduled.
“Over the past two days, our team has taken the time to safely access and test the affected valves, without being dictated by the launch window of our pace,” said John Vollmer, vice president and general manager of the Starliner program.
A new launch date will be announced when the spacecraft is ready, the company said in a statement.
This incident is the latest for Boeing since the establishment of its contract with NASA to transport astronauts into low earth orbit.
After ending its own space shuttle program in 2011, NASA secured the services of Boeing and SpaceX so as to no longer need Russian rockets to reach the ISS.
It is crucial for Boeing to successfully complete an unmanned flight mission to the ISS before it can safely ferry astronauts.
SpaceX has already carried out three manned missions, bringing no less than ten astronauts to the Space Station, including Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, aboard his Crew Dragon spacecraft.
For its part, Boeing has fallen behind.
In December 2019, during a first test flight, a software problem had caused a problem with the thrusters.
Starliner had not had enough fuel to reach the ISS and had to return to Earth prematurely.
Subsequently, an investigation showed that the capsule had almost experienced a serious flight anomaly on entering the atmosphere.
NASA had described the mission as a "high visibility close call", a rare name reserved for flights that came close to disaster.
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