The first manned flight of Boeing’s space capsule, Starliner, which was finally due to take place in July after multiple postponements, has again been postponed due to two recently identified technical problems, the US company and NASA announced Thursday.
The first problem concerns the parachutes used to slow down the capsule during its return to Earth. Part of the link between the capsule and the parachute turned out to be more fragile than expected.
A flight this year is still “feasible”
The second problem concerns the duct tape used to wrap the electrical wires inside the capsule. It has been shown to be flammable and could present a hazard in the event of an abnormality, under specific conditions.
“We have decided to halt CFT mission preparations to correct these issues,” Mark Nappi, Boeing’s program manager, said at a news conference.
According to him, the adhesive tape in question is used for at least tens of meters. Removing it could cause damage, and a solution could be to cover it with another material in the areas of greatest risk.
A flight this year is still “feasible,” he said, not wanting to commit to a new date. NASA has contracted with Boeing and SpaceX so that these companies each develop a capsule to transport their astronauts to the ISS and bring them back.
They have been traveling since 2020 already aboard SpaceX ships, but Boeing’s program has fallen far behind due to a series of setbacks.
Source: BFM TV
