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Anomaly deals setback to Boeing’s space taxi plans

Engine test
Aerojet Rocketdyne conducts a 2016 test firing of the launch abort engines designed for use on Boeing’s Starliner. The engines feature a new type of propellant valve. (Aerojet Rocketdyne Photo)

Boeing confirms that it experienced an anomaly last month during tests of the engines that would be used on its CST-100 Starliner space taxi in the event of a launch emergency.

The anomaly resulted in an unwanted leak of propellant, and although no hardware was destroyed, the issue is likely to contribute to further delays for NASA’s plan to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station on the Starliner.

An updated flight schedule for the first flights of the Starliner as well as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is due to be released within the next week or two. The most recently issued schedule, which is now out of date, called for uncrewed and crewed demonstration flights to take place by the end of 2018.

Word of last month’s anomaly was first reported by Ars Technica. In a follow-up statement, Boeing confirmed that the anomaly came at the end of a hot-fire test of the launch abort engines at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. The firing was conducted in preparation for a full test of the launch abort system, a crucial milestone in the Starliner development effort.

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Stephen Colbert dons Boeing’s spacesuit

Stephen Colbert
Late-night host Stephen Colbert strikes an astronautical pose. (Boeing via Twitter)

Let history record that America’s first late-night astronaut is … Stephen Colbert?

In a pre-recorded bit due to be broadcast tonight on CBS’ “Late Show,” Colbert wears the spacesuit designed for crews on Boeing’s Starliner space taxi and does his shtick at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with Boeing’s Chris Ferguson as straight man.

“How does it feel to be the first honorary Starliner astronaut?” Colbert asks in one clip. “I’ve made it. This is what all of this comedy work has been leading up to: wearing a very tight jumpsuit with a really big inflatable butt on it.”

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Boeing delays its astronaut trips to 2018

Image: Boeing Starliner hull
The hull of a CST-100 Starliner structural test vehicle is assembled inside Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Credit: NASA)

A top Boeing executive said today that the company plans to start sending crews into orbit aboard its CST-100 Starliner space taxi in 2018, which represents a slight delay in NASA’s previous development schedule.

“We’re working toward our first unmanned flight in 2017, followed by a manned astronaut flight in 2018,” Leanne Caret, who is Boeing’s executive vice president as well as president and chief executive officer of Boeing’s defense, space and security division, said at a briefing for investors.

Previously, Boeing said both test flights, uncrewed and crewed, were scheduled for 2017. Just this week, Aviation Week reported that Boeing was sticking to the 2017 schedule, even though it’s been working through challenges related to the mass of the spacecraft and aeroacoustic issues related to integration with its United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 launch vehicle.

In a follow-up to Caret’s comments, Boeing spokeswoman Rebecca Regan told GeekWire that those factors contributed to the schedule slip. In addition, NASA software updates have added more work for developers.

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