Boeing has a setback for its CST-100 Starliner Capsule

Boeing, like SpaceX, is developing a crewed capsule for delivering astronauts to the International Space Station and any follow-ons that may appear in the mid 2020s. This capsule is called the CST-100 Starliner. One of the steps to get the capsule certified for NASA astronauts is that it must prove it will abort from the pad much like the Indians recently did.

In June, Boeing was doing a normal test of the rocket engines for the CST-100 capsule to meant for the abort capability. The test ran relatively normal until the end when a propellant leak was detected. This could be serious: the propellant has a chance of igniting after the abort has started or could leak earlier during the launch. Boeing is now investigating and may have corrected the problem. To be sure more testing will be required and that may cause yet another delay to the launch of the CST-100 to the space station.

Some are concerned NASA will lose access to the space station since NASA only has flights with the Russians until early 2020. The current projected schedule puts certification for Boeing at the end of 2019 and SpaceX in the beginning of 2020. If there is another slip, NASA would not have access to the space station it spent $100 billion on.

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Thank Bush and Obama. Shoulda had a replacement before retire Shuttle.

a reply to: Xeven

And Clinton. The X-33 was a disaster from the beginning. Either of the other proposals would have been infinitely better than the X-33 and the proposed follow-on VentureStar.

I feel we are so far behind on space travel and exploration. I think space x, virgin galactic, nasa, need to get together and build a new shuttle before the end of this administration, or were just gonna end up hitching a ride for a long time...

originally posted by: jonnyhallows5211
I feel we are so far behind on space travel and exploration. I think space x, virgin galactic, nasa, need to get together and build a new shuttle before the end of this administration, or were just gonna end up hitching a ride for a long time...

That's what Boeing's CST-100 and SpaceX's Dragon 2 are for -- to give NASA a ride to the ISS, and maybe to other places in low Earth orbit. As the OP mentioned, they are scheduled to be certified for operational flight by 2019 (for Boeing) and 2020 (for SpaceX) -- although those dates might slip.

But even if those dates slip a year (and hopefully they won't, but who knows), the bottom line is that these two craft will be ready for NASA to use far before any "new shuttle" can be developed. The CST-100 and Dragon 2 have been in development for years themselves.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

And the Orion and the capsule Blue Origin is working on.

Orbital ATK (now Northrop) built a ground test article a few years back of a capsule as well made of composites.

Then there's DreamChaser from Sierra Nevada.

There's more space stuff going on than people think. It's been a bit frustrating because they are years behind schedule, but they are coming along and in a way that ought to be a huge infrastructure for guaranteed access to space. Discontinue or have a problem with one, you still have two or three more you can tap into. That's never been the case ever in space for the US.

a reply to: anzha

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Boeing's first unmanned CST-100 flight has been delayed 5 to 6 months.

They had a flight abort test from the pad today and only got 2 out of 3 parachutes deployed. It would have been survivable but shouldn't not a good thing regardless.

Expect further delays.

a reply to: mightmight

Was just going to post this ……..

Well as Meatloaf said, 2 Out Of 3 Aint Bad

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Then again 2 Out of 3 branches of government aint bad

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As if Boeing didn't have enough screwups can add this to list …….

Watching video can see that the 3 drogue chutes deployed, but one of them detached before the main was deployed

Also the service module containing the rockets and propellants crashed into desert nearby releasing cloud of toxic
Nitrogen Tetraoxide