Latest Launches and Updates

[Capt. Kyle]

Perhaps an update/news thread for those space nerds among us?

https://www.nasa.gov/events/

Next NASA launch scheduled for NET May 6, 2024.

[Capt. Kyle]

https://www.space.com/news/live/boeing- ... ve-updates

Launch currently set for 04:34, May 7 (South African Time).

[Patrick AL]

Seems Boeing is facing more issues here too....

Starliner launch halted again.....

They should -at this point -probably do a major shake-up of Boeing -sell off everything not commercial/military aviation related, buy back crucial business departments to ensure all critical work is done in-house
- and then focus on purely winged flight again.

SpaceX-and other private spaceflight operators, are now filling the niche well enough.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cglvpd6n3d8o

Boeing crewed space launch postponed for safety check
4 hours ago
João da Silva,Business reporter
Nasa/Boeing Boeing Starliner spacecraft capsule.Nasa/Boeing

Boeing's first crewed space flight was postponed just two hours before launch for a safety check, Nasa officials say.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were already in position inside the Starliner when the decision to halt was made because of a potential issue with an oxygen relief valve.

The spacecraft had been expected to blast off from Cape Canaveral in Florida and make its way to the International Space Station (ISS).

The soonest a new launch attempt may be made is on Friday, Boeing said in a post on social media.

The mission has already been delayed for several years because of setbacks in the spacecraft's development.

"Standing down on tonight's attempt to launch," tweeted Nasa chief Bill Nelson. "As I've said before, @NASA's first priority is safety. We go when we're ready."

Boeing is hoping to become the second private firm able to provide crew transport to and from the ISS, alongside Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Mr Musk's company was the first to achieve this in 2020 with its Dragon capsule, in a flight that ended close to a decade of US reliance on Russian space rockets.

The Starliner's first uncrewed test flight was originally scheduled to take place in 2015 but ended up being delayed until 2019. When it did occur, software glitches led to an internal clock malfunction, resulting in thrusters over-firing. So much fuel was consumed that the capsule was unable to reach the ISS.

A second attempt was planned in August 2021 but delayed again until May 2022. An issue with the propulsion system was blamed. When Starliner finally did leave Earth, it managed to complete its full mission but concerns were raised about the performance of some thrusters and the craft's cooling system.

[Capt. Kyle]

The next attempt is planned for May 17 (early hours of May 18 for us in SA).

It must be difficult as an astronaut to have a launch scrubbed and to reset themselves. But they are pretty mentally tough individuals for a reason!

[Patrick AL]

..more delay...

"If it's Boeing, it ain't going!"




https://www.flyingmag.com/boeing-nasa-n ... er-launch/


Boeing, NASA Delay Starliner Again Due to New Issue
The spacecraft’s inaugural crewed flight test will now occur no earlier than 4:43 p.m. EDT on Tuesday after teams discover a new issue.
By Jack Daleo
May 15, 2024
Boeing, NASA Delay Starliner Again Due to New Issue

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, stacked atop ULA’s Atlas V rocket, stands on the launchpad of Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. [Courtesy: NASA]

NASA, Boeing, and United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are now targeting no earlier than 4:43 p.m. EDT on Tuesday for the next launch attempt of the crewed flight test (CFT) of Starliner: Boeing’s semireusable vessel to the International Space Station (ISS).

The approximately weeklong mission—which will take NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS and back—is intended to be Starliner’s final test flight before NASA certifies it for Commercial Crew rotation missions to the orbital laboratory. It would be the first crewed launch on ULA’s Atlas V rocket, which will send the spacecraft into orbit, and the first on the Atlas family of rockets in more than half a century.

An initial Starliner CFT launch attempt, scheduled for May 6, was scrubbed hours before takeoff due to an oscillating pressure regulation valve on the Atlas V’s upper stage. Boeing and NASA then pushed back the mission to May 10, later revising their timeline to Friday after successfully replacing the faulty valve.

Now, a new issue—involving the Starship capsule itself, rather than Atlas V—is holding up things.

#Starliner’s Crew Flight Test is now targeted to launch no earlier than 4:43 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 21, to complete additional testing.

Learn more: https://t.co/KUYQsPdbzM
— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) May 14, 2024

NASA and Boeing on Tuesday said Starliner crews discovered a small helium leak on the spacecraft’s service module “traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster.”

The service module, which unlike Starliner’s crew module is expendable, is designed to power and maneuver the autonomous spacecraft. It is equipped with 28 reaction control system engines, designed by Boeing supplier Aerojet Rocketdyne, that generate 100 pounds of thrust each and stabilize the capsule in orbit. Helium allows the thrusters to fire and is neither toxic nor combustible.

Starliner teams are working to address the issue and conduct additional testing, resulting in the new target launch date of Tuesday.

“As a part of the testing, Boeing will bring the propulsion system up to flight pressurization just as it does prior to launch, and then allow the helium system to vent naturally to validate existing data and strengthen flight rationale,” the company said.

Boeing and NASA added that no further issues have arisen since the scrubbed launch on May 6.

Starliner successfully reached the ISS for the first and only time during an uncrewed test flight in 2022. But since Boeing unveiled the concept for the spacecraft in 2010, the program has been bogged down by delays. The CFT has been no exception.

NASA intends for Starliner to serve as a redundant alternative to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule—which, like Starliner, was designed to ferry astronauts to low-Earth orbit destinations—in the case of a contingency, such as the one that stranded astronaut Frank Rubio in space for six months (and helped Rubio achieve a U.S. spaceflight record in the process). Crew Dragon has flown all eight Commercial Crew missions to date under a contract with the space agency agreed upon in 2014, which has since been extended.

NASA and Boeing have a similar contract, worth $4.2 billion, for six missions, the first of which could fly early next year if all goes according to plan Tuesday.

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[rudolphschar]

Is this thing every going to fly? Another indefinite delay due to a leak...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-order ... starliner/

[Capt. Kyle]

Despite nerves of steel, I would be less than enthusiastic to board this rocket as an astronaut.

[Patrick AL]

Despite nerves of steel, I would be less than enthusiastic to board this rocket as an astronaut.

Absolutely!-.... and the Blue Origin Fairground Hop rocket !..... with its one failing 'chute. The most low-tech element on board....and it fails!
Can't imagine that the FAA are going to let this go lightly.

Time for Bezos to can this Squib , and put his efforts into getting BE4 engines reliably produced for the contracts he's already delayed by years and years. Otherwise he should just bow out of the Space game entirely and leave it to those with a passion -and ability- for it.

[propstrap]

https://apnews.com/article/boeing-space ... 05566c1d27

Boeing’s 1st astronaut flight now set for June after a review of small leak on new capsule

Further down in the article...

Identification of the Starliner leak led to the discovery of yet another problem — “a design vulnerability” in the propulsion system in the unlikely event of a string of failures, Stich said. The team has developed workaround methods to get the capsule safely out of orbit at flight’s end if such problems arise, he added.

Whoever thinks of these terms, where a design flaw becomes a design vulnerability.. and so many other boardroom terms? My word, I will never keep
up to the "executive" English

[propstrap]

I guess this qualifies as a launch...

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/2 ... -in-flight

North Korea has said its attempt to put a second spy satellite into orbit failed when the rocket it was on exploded.

“The launch of the new satellite carrier rocket failed when it exploded in mid-air during the flight of the first stage,” the deputy director general of North Korea’s National Aerospace Technology Administration said in a report carried by state media.

An initial analysis suggested that the cause was a newly developed liquid fuel rocket motor, but other possible causes were being investigated, the report said.

In a country not known for a tolerant blameless attitude towards setbacks, or political opponents, Kim Jong-un, whose half brother was assassinated and who had his uncle executed, must have the senior officials involved quite nervous...

[Capt. Kyle]

Starliner back on the pad for a scheduled launch tomorrow (1 June) at 18h25B (if I have my time zones correct).

Dream Chaser (finally) at integration facility to begin prep for a September launch.

[Capt. Kyle]

Starliner back on the pad for a scheduled launch tomorrow (1 June) at 18h25B (if I have my time zones correct).

Nth times the charm...

Good time for us though, I can hopefully watch it after work.

[Patrick AL]

Starliner back on the pad for a scheduled launch tomorrow (1 June) at 18h25B (if I have my time zones correct).

So much for that... I think that is a new countdown progress record though .

[RogerRoger]

Boeing Stayliner

[Deanw]

Is this not more of a United Launch Alliance (rocket manufacturer) problem and not a Boeing problem?