Boeing confirms delay till August for first unmanned Starliner launch
No surprise here: Boeing today confirmed that it is delaying until August for first unmanned Starliner test launch.
A statement issued by Boeing on Tuesday confirmed previous reports that the company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, designed and built under a $4.2 billion contract from NASA, would miss its previous target launch date for an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station in April. NASA and industry sources have said for months that an April launch date was not feasible, but NASA and Boeing had not officially published a revised schedule since early February.
The first Starliner test flight with astronauts on-board was previously scheduled for August. In Boeing’s schedule update released Tuesday, the company only said it expects the Crew Flight Test to occur “later this year,” but sources said the Starliner could fly with astronauts in November, at the earliest.
It appears that the fuel leak during a thruster test in June of last year has been the main cause of the delay.
None of this should effect SpaceX, which is primed to fly its mission during the summer. It does however cause more problems for Boeing, which is now also faced with pressure to finish NASA’s SLS rocket, bogged by years of delays and cost overruns.
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No surprise here: Boeing today confirmed that it is delaying until August for first unmanned Starliner test launch.
A statement issued by Boeing on Tuesday confirmed previous reports that the company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, designed and built under a $4.2 billion contract from NASA, would miss its previous target launch date for an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station in April. NASA and industry sources have said for months that an April launch date was not feasible, but NASA and Boeing had not officially published a revised schedule since early February.
The first Starliner test flight with astronauts on-board was previously scheduled for August. In Boeing’s schedule update released Tuesday, the company only said it expects the Crew Flight Test to occur “later this year,” but sources said the Starliner could fly with astronauts in November, at the earliest.
It appears that the fuel leak during a thruster test in June of last year has been the main cause of the delay.
None of this should effect SpaceX, which is primed to fly its mission during the summer. It does however cause more problems for Boeing, which is now also faced with pressure to finish NASA’s SLS rocket, bogged by years of delays and cost overruns.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
What are the penalties?
It looks like cost plus overruns and while they may not get more $$ until they meet a milestone, they wont be penalized for missing targets either.
Maybe my complaint is misplaced as the more time ot costs them, the lower the return on their investment is. It is in their best interest to perform.
So if Boeing is sufficiently delayed, will SpaceX get more of the initial missions, or will they make everyone wait for Boeing. One wonders.
My guess is that NASA will come up with a reason to delay SpaceX as well
geoffc and Kyle,
With Trump, Pence and Bridenstine openly on the warpath anent other program delays, I don’t think any invented reasons to hold SpaceX back are going to pass muster this time. If the in-flight abort test goes as expected, SpaceX wiil launch crew in July.
Meanwhile, NASA and Boeing in their public statement apparently are blaming…ULA for the delay. Which as some observers are pointing out today, is quite astounding.
Chris Gebhardt: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2019/04/curious-move-nasa-blame-ula-latest-starliner-delay/
Eric Berger: https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1113466461257965568
ULA is keeping silent – what choice do they have? But I give extra points to Tory Bruno for saying something nothing in as a clever a manner as possible: https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/1113484024801107968
Richard M,
I’m a bit confused. I do not understand why ULA is taking the heat for this delay until August.
It is the Air Force’s schedule to launch the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) communications satellite in June, and so far they are not in delay; Boeing is. ULA is holding to the previous schedule, not Boeing. If anyone other than Boeing is to blame then it is the Air Force, not ULA, but it is Boeing that is having the problem meeting its own schedule.
Even Boeing admits in Robert’s linked article that AEHF is “a critical national security payload,” and the criticality of this payload is not ULA’s fault, either.
Hello Edward,
As Gebhardt notes, the bottom line is that Boeing’s Starliner is not ready for a launch this spring. Which makes whatever else is on ULA’s manifest a moot point.
So we are left to wonder at the decision of NASA and Boeing in this statement to effectively blame ULA’s manifest, rather than Boeing’s delays. It’s a shabby way to treat ULA, which has been a critical player in launching so many of NASA’s science payloads. The only way to clear your confusion is to reach the conclusion that NASA management is working to shift heat away from Boeing.