{"id":18419,"date":"2018-08-01T21:46:03","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T13:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/boeing-resets-test-schedule-for-starliner-space-taxi-first-crewed-flight-in-mid-2019\/"},"modified":"2018-08-01T21:46:03","modified_gmt":"2018-08-01T13:46:03","slug":"boeing-resets-test-schedule-for-starliner-space-taxi-first-crewed-flight-in-mid-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/boeing-resets-test-schedule-for-starliner-space-taxi-first-crewed-flight-in-mid-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing resets test schedule for Starliner space taxi; first crewed flight in mid-2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Boeing
An artist\u2019s conception shows Boeing\u2019s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, which is designed to carry astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station. (Boeing Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last month\u2019s problem with leaky rocket engine valves has forced Boeing to rearrange the sequence of tests for its Starliner space taxi, with the first crewed flight to the International Space Station now planned for no earlier than mid-2019.<\/p>\n

John Mulholland, a Boeing vice president who\u2019s program manager for the CST-100 Starliner program, laid out the revised schedule today during a teleconference with journalists.<\/p>\n

The current plan calls for an uncrewed Starliner capsule, known as Spacecraft 3, to be launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket to the International Space Station in late 2018 or early 2019.<\/p>\n

Another capsule, Spacecraft 1, will be put through an uncrewed pad abort test during the first few months of 2019. Assuming that test is successful, Boeing would launch the Starliner\u2019s first crew to the space station aboard yet another Starliner, Spacecraft 2, a month later.<\/p>\n

Boeing had planned to start with the pad abort test, which would make use of a \u201cpusher\u201d rocket system designed to throw the capsule clear of its launch vehicle in the event of an emergency. Then it would have done the uncrewed demonstration flight, followed by the crewed demonstration flight, perhaps by the end of 2018.<\/p>\n

June\u2019s problem, which cropped up during a hot-fire test of the launch abort system at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, forced a change of plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral of the abort engine valves failed to fully close\u201d at the end of a 1.5-second test firing, Mulholland said. That resulted in a leak of toxic hypergolic propellant, but no damage to the hardware and no injuries to the test team, he said.<\/p>\n