Commercial crew test flights delayed again
NASA today released an updated schedule for the Dragon and Starliner test flights, indicating the first Dragon flight has been pushed to January 2019.
- SpaceX Demo-1 uncrewed flight test: January 2019 (delayed from November 2018)
- Boeing uncrewed Orbital Flight Test: March 2019 (delayed from late 2018/early 2019)
- SpaceX Demo-2 crewed flight test: June 2019 (delayed from April 2019)
- Boeing Crew Flight Test: August 2019 (nominally still in mid-2019 as earlier stated)
It appears from the article that SpaceX was prepared to fly its first flight in December, meaning only a one month delay, but scheduling conflicts at ISS forced them to push it to January.
With the Boeing flights, the scheduling has less to do with delays and more do to do with setting more precise launch dates.
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NASA today released an updated schedule for the Dragon and Starliner test flights, indicating the first Dragon flight has been pushed to January 2019.
- SpaceX Demo-1 uncrewed flight test: January 2019 (delayed from November 2018)
- Boeing uncrewed Orbital Flight Test: March 2019 (delayed from late 2018/early 2019)
- SpaceX Demo-2 crewed flight test: June 2019 (delayed from April 2019)
- Boeing Crew Flight Test: August 2019 (nominally still in mid-2019 as earlier stated)
It appears from the article that SpaceX was prepared to fly its first flight in December, meaning only a one month delay, but scheduling conflicts at ISS forced them to push it to January.
With the Boeing flights, the scheduling has less to do with delays and more do to do with setting more precise launch dates.
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
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
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.
Here is the official NASA release: Launch Dates to be Updated More Regularly as Commercial Crew Flights Draw Nearer (NASA, Oct. 4, 2018)
In addition to the SpaceX: January & June, Boeing: March & August dates, it says they are tentatively planning for the first two long-duration Expedition crew missions to be in August & December of 2019, “with the specific spacecraft yet to be determined.”
One thing that did hold for SpaceX is the five month span between DM-1 & DM-2. During this time they need to refurbish their DM-1 capsule and successfully refly it on an in-flight abort test, before proceeding to DM-2 (with a new capsule).
Does the stack of paperwork exceed the height of the booster yet?