NASA has still not decided whether it will require Boeing to complete a second uncrewed test flight of the company's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, which failed to reach the International Space Station in its first attempt in December 2019. But the agency may have a game plan ready by the end of the month.
In a teleconference with reporters on Friday (March 6), Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said that NASA is "shooting for the end of the month to have a review between ourselves and Boeing." After making their decision about the best path forward for Boeing's troubled Starliner program, the reviewers will deliver a plan to the head of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, Doug Loverro.
However, it could still take a while before NASA can announce when the next Starliner mission will launch and whether there will be astronauts on board because NASA and Boeing expect to spend "several months" fixing a myriad of technical problems on Starliner, Loverro added during the teleconference.
Related: Boeing's 1st Starliner flight test in photos
Following Starliner's failure to reach the International Space Station on Dec. 20, a joint NASA-Boeing independent review team identified 61 "corrective actions" to address two major software problems and a communications issue that arose during the mission, called Orbital Flight Test (OFT).
The first problem that became apparent had to do with the spacecraft's on-board timer, which had pulled an incorrect time from the Atlas V rocket on which it launched. Because the so-called "mission elapsed timer" was 11 hours off, Starliner did not complete an orbit insertion burn after launching into space, and that prevented it from completing its mission.
A second critical software problem was identified later on during the flight, shortly before Starliner began to make its way back to Earth for a parachute-assisted landing. A valve-mapping error in the spacecraft's service module could have potentially caused an in-space collision after that disposable part of the spacecraft separated from the crew module.
The third major problem was a temporary drop in communications between Starliner and NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, which transmit data between spacecraft and data stations on Earth. If this communications dropout had not happened, ground controllers could have potentially corrected the timing issue and manually commanded the spacecraft to do its orbit insertion burn. NASA and Boeing are still investigating the cause of this communications issue, which appears to have been radio interference, but Boeing officials have said that it could be solved by replacing Starliner's antenna.
Loverro said that NASA is now designating the OFT mission a "high-visibility close call," which the agency defines as an incident during a space mission in which "the potential for a significant mishap could have occurred and should be investigated to understand the risk exposure and the root cause(s) that placed equipment or individuals at risk," according to NASA's Commercial Crew blog.
"We could have lost a spacecraft twice during this mission," Loverro said. "We could have lost it at the beginning of the mission and we could have lost it at the end of the mission. But thankfully the Boeing guys were able to go through the software and the Johnson [Space Center] guys were able to test it and find the errors. So it's clearly a close call."
While NASA and Boeing have only identified these three specific issues, the review team has come up with a list of 61 corrective actions. That doesn't necessarily mean that there are 61 separate problems with Starliner, Jim Chilton, senior vice president at Boeing Space and Launch, said in the teleconference. Rather, he said the list is of "61 ways to get better in three categories."
When asked if NASA could make that list of 61 corrective actions available to the public, Loverro said, "I don't know. We haven't had that conversation with Boeing, and we'd have to have that conversation."
In addition to implementing specific software fixes to address the three critical issues previously disclosed, Boeing has been asked to more broadly improve its engineering and testing procedures for new spacecraft. In the engineering department, NASA has asked Boeing to "strengthen its review process, including better peer and control board reviews, and improve its software process training," according to the NASA blog.
NASA has also asked Boeing to "increase the fidelity in the testing of its software during all phases of flight," and to perform full, end-to-end ground tests during mission simulations something the company did not do before launching Starliner.
The review team is also looking to identify possible organizational issues that could have contributed to the problems with Starliner. NASA plans to conduct a "organizational safety assessment" while performing an evaluation of the workplace culture at Boeing as well as NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
"We're going to look at both Boeing's organizational processes and NASA's organizational processes in order to go ahead and make sure we truly do learn from this event, and that we know how to fix it and make sure it doesn't happen again," Loverro said.
Boeing was originally scheduled to launch the first crewed test flight of its Starliner spacecraft to International Space Station in the summer of 2020, but that mission has been postponed indefinitely as the company works with NASA to prove that the spacecraft can safely transport astronauts to and from space.
Meanwhile, SpaceX, the other private company that NASA has commissioned to fly astronauts to the space station, is gearing up to launch the first crewed mission of its Crew Dragon spacecraft in May, following a successful uncrewed test flight in March 2019.
Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and onFacebook.
See more here:
NASA could have a timeline for Boeing's next Starliner flight by the end of the month - Space.com
- Armadillo’s Level 2 LLC attempt coming soon? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Decisions, decisions - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Armadillo versus the weather - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Photos from Armadillo’s Saturday flights - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Armadillo Level 2 Flight 1 - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Meanwhile, elsewhere in the LLC race - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Masten gets halfway there - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Xombie photos (finally!) - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Is the media clowning around? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Galactic Suite “on schedule”? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Scientist Guest Column: Using Commercial Suborbital Spacecraft for Microgravity Chemistry Research - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Building Spaceport Infrastructure: An Overview of the STIM-Grants Program - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Five Years After SpaceShipOne’s Historic X PRIZE Flight, New Challenges Await - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Masten Space Systems Makes Successful Flights to Qualify for $150K NASA Lunar Lander Prize Level 1 - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Distinguished Former NASA Astronauts Endorse Commercial Spaceflight in Wall Street Journal Op-Ed - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- NASA Chief Praises Commercial Spaceflight, Suborbital Science, & Innovation Prizes in Speech - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- CSF Welcomes Strong Support for Commercial Human Spaceflight in White House Panel’s Report - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Commercial Spaceflight Federation President Bretton Alexander Appointed to the NASA Advisory Council - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- In November 5th Public Ceremony, NASA to Award $1.65 Million In Prizes for Commercial Spaceflight Successes - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- CSF Congratulates Winners of NASA’s $2 Million Lunar Lander Challenge - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Welcome to the NewSpace Journal - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Some things even Virgin can’t control - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- While you’re waiting for the rollout… - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- SpaceShipTwo rollout: initial impressions - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- A couple of pics - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- SpaceShipTwo slideshow - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- The Virgin party’s aftermath - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Investment in Commercial Spaceflight Grows to $1.46 Billion, Updated Industry Study Reveals - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Former Astronaut-Astronomer, Sam Durrance, Joins the CSF Suborbital Researchers Group - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Commercial Spaceflight Federation Announces Creation and Initial Membership of Spaceports Council - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- CSF President Bretton Alexander Testifies Before House Science Committee on Spaceflight Safety - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- CSF Vice-Chairman Jeff Greason Testifies Before House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Commercial Spaceflight Regulation - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- So that’s why Aabar invested in Virgin? - December 15th, 2009 [December 15th, 2009]
- More about the Virgin rollout aftermath - December 17th, 2009 [December 17th, 2009]
- Space tourism as “the final undiscovered frontier”? - December 17th, 2009 [December 17th, 2009]
- Orion Propulsion acquired - December 17th, 2009 [December 17th, 2009]
- Spaceport America developments - December 18th, 2009 [December 18th, 2009]
- XCOR wins a major customer - December 19th, 2009 [December 19th, 2009]
- Centennial Challenges, Spaceport Infrastructure Grants, and Suborbital Science to Receive Funds from NASA and FAA - December 22nd, 2009 [December 22nd, 2009]
- Video tour of Spaceport America - December 24th, 2009 [December 24th, 2009]
- Virgin’s web traffic planning - December 24th, 2009 [December 24th, 2009]
- List of Speakers Announced for the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in February - December 31st, 2009 [December 31st, 2009]
- Popular Science Features Commercial Spaceflight on January Cover, Discusses NASA Partnerships - January 4th, 2010 [January 4th, 2010]
- Aviation Week honors the “Space Entrepreneur” - January 5th, 2010 [January 5th, 2010]
- “The Space Entrepreneur” Named by Aviation Week Magazine As Its 2009 Person of the Year - January 5th, 2010 [January 5th, 2010]
- Additional notes about Olsen’s book - January 6th, 2010 [January 6th, 2010]
- Registration deadline approaching for suborbital science conference - January 8th, 2010 [January 8th, 2010]
- NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver to Keynote the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in February - January 11th, 2010 [January 11th, 2010]
- Cecil Field gets spaceport license – but will anyone use it? - January 12th, 2010 [January 12th, 2010]
- Training begins for suborbital scientist-astronauts - January 12th, 2010 [January 12th, 2010]
- First Class of Suborbital Scientist-Astronauts Successfully Complete NASTAR Training Program - January 14th, 2010 [January 14th, 2010]
- Is “space tour guide” in your professional future? - January 17th, 2010 [January 17th, 2010]
- What can Florida, Indiana, and others learn from Oklahoma? - January 17th, 2010 [January 17th, 2010]
- Virginia wants money, New Mexico wants laws - January 21st, 2010 [January 21st, 2010]
- Commercial Spaceflight Federation Responds to the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel’s 2009 Annual Report - January 21st, 2010 [January 21st, 2010]
- CSF Statement on NASA’s Anticipated Announcement of a $6 Billion Commercial Crew Program and NASA Budget Increase - January 29th, 2010 [January 29th, 2010]
- CSF Welcomes New NASA Human Spaceflight Plan, Congratulates Commercial Crew Development Winners - February 1st, 2010 [February 1st, 2010]
- NASA Unveils Commercial Human Spaceflight Development Agreements and Announces $50 Million in Seed Funding for Commercial Crew - February 3rd, 2010 [February 3rd, 2010]
- James Cameron Endorses Commercial Spaceflight, New NASA Plan - February 4th, 2010 [February 4th, 2010]
- Newt Gingrich and Bob Walker Endorse Obama’s New NASA Plan, Urge Bipartisan Support - February 13th, 2010 [February 13th, 2010]
- Blue Origin proposes orbital vehicle - February 18th, 2010 [February 18th, 2010]
- CSF Announces New Research and Education Affiliates Program, Initial Participating Universities - February 18th, 2010 [February 18th, 2010]
- CSF Welcomes Historic NASA Commitment of $75 Million for Commercial Suborbital Flights, Payloads - February 18th, 2010 [February 18th, 2010]
- Suborbital vehicle development updates - February 19th, 2010 [February 19th, 2010]
- Other conference announcements - February 21st, 2010 [February 21st, 2010]
- Bigger prizes to come? - February 23rd, 2010 [February 23rd, 2010]
- Gov. Bill Richardson Endorses Commercial Spaceflight, Obama’s New NASA Plan - February 23rd, 2010 [February 23rd, 2010]
- Over 250 People Attend Next-Gen Suborbital Researchers Conference, 2011 Meeting Planned for Florida - February 24th, 2010 [February 24th, 2010]
- Boston Globe, Nature, New York Times Editorial Boards Among Others Welcoming New NASA Plan - February 25th, 2010 [February 25th, 2010]
- Commercial Spaceflight Federation Commends New Mexico for Passage of Key Liability Legislation - March 2nd, 2010 [March 2nd, 2010]
- Burt Rutan’s BigThink - March 3rd, 2010 [March 3rd, 2010]
- Brief notes: Soyuz, Virgin, and… iCarly? - March 5th, 2010 [March 5th, 2010]
- Commercial Spaceflight Federation 2009 Annual Report Highlights Industry Progress - March 8th, 2010 [March 8th, 2010]
- SpaceShipTwo flies, on schedule - March 23rd, 2010 [March 23rd, 2010]
- SpaceShipTwo captive carry flight video - March 23rd, 2010 [March 23rd, 2010]
- Over the Mojave Desert, Suborbital Vehicles Take Flight - March 28th, 2010 [March 28th, 2010]
- See WK2 and SS2 fly in New Mexico this October - March 29th, 2010 [March 29th, 2010]
- SA10: Commercial RLV Technology Roadmap update - April 9th, 2010 [April 9th, 2010]
- An evolving Armadillo - April 11th, 2010 [April 11th, 2010]