Starliner unmanned demo flight likely delayed until ’22
Capitalism in space: The second Starliner unmanned demo flight, repeatedly delayed throughout ’21 due to scheduling and technical problems, is now likely to be delayed until next year.
Apparently, Boeing engineers have been unable to figure out why 13 of 64 valves on Starliner failed to function properly just hours before the last planned launch, causing the launch to be scrubbed.
The quality control systems at Boeing during this entire program have not shined. The capsule is now years behind schedule, and has been dogged by design and construction flaws — from software to parachutes to valves — that in the 21st century should not be problems any longer in building a manned spacecraft.
Like SpaceX and its Dragon capsule, Boeing owns Starliner and will be able to offer private citizens and companies flights on it once it is operational. These failures, however, will not be good for that future business. They make this spacecraft a far less appealing product when compared to the high quality of the engineering at SpaceX. Why would anyone risk their life on Starliner when they can buy a ticket on the apparently much more reliable Dragon?
In other words, Boeing has been doing terrible harm to its brand name with these problems. It needs to get them fixed, and fast.
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Capitalism in space: The second Starliner unmanned demo flight, repeatedly delayed throughout ’21 due to scheduling and technical problems, is now likely to be delayed until next year.
Apparently, Boeing engineers have been unable to figure out why 13 of 64 valves on Starliner failed to function properly just hours before the last planned launch, causing the launch to be scrubbed.
The quality control systems at Boeing during this entire program have not shined. The capsule is now years behind schedule, and has been dogged by design and construction flaws — from software to parachutes to valves — that in the 21st century should not be problems any longer in building a manned spacecraft.
Like SpaceX and its Dragon capsule, Boeing owns Starliner and will be able to offer private citizens and companies flights on it once it is operational. These failures, however, will not be good for that future business. They make this spacecraft a far less appealing product when compared to the high quality of the engineering at SpaceX. Why would anyone risk their life on Starliner when they can buy a ticket on the apparently much more reliable Dragon?
In other words, Boeing has been doing terrible harm to its brand name with these problems. It needs to get them fixed, and fast.
Please consider donating to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar below. Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
Your support is even more essential to me because I keep this site free from advertisements and do not participate in corrupt social media companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook. I depend wholly on the direct support of my readers.
You can provide that support to Behind The Black with a contribution via Patreon or PayPal. To use Patreon, go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. For PayPal click one of the following buttons:
If Patreon or Paypal don't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
Robert wrote: “The quality control systems at Boeing during this entire program have not shined. The capsule is now years behind schedule, and has been dogged by design and construction flaws — from software to parachutes to valves — that in the 21st century should not be problems any longer in building a manned spacecraft.”
This is the point at which I say that we still don’t have all the answers in designing manned spacecraft, so problems are still to be expected. However, Boeing’s parachute problem and software problems should have never happened. Neither was a fundamental design problem, they were design implementation problems.
The valve problem is worrisome. These valves are either the same valves commonly used in spacecraft or are designed similarly. Is there a fundamental problem with this type of valve or has Boeing used them in a way that makes them unreliable? Is Boeing about to discover a flaw in the valve or a flaw in their implementation of the plumbing? Is this a case in which we don’t have all the answers, or is it a case in which an error was made?
the high quality of the engineering at SpaceX
To be fair, I don’t recall any Boeing explosions, while Space X has a highlight reel on YouTube. That said, I’d rather fly in a Mark IV craft that had versions 1, 2, and 3 explode and the problems fixed than in a Mark I craft with a perfect simulator record.
markedup2,
You wrote: “To be fair, I don’t recall any Boeing explosions, while Space X has a highlight reel on YouTube.”
So your conclusion is that Boeing is hiding its development work and SpaceX publicizes their own? I think that you need to go back to the time when Boeing, their heritage companies, and other launch companies were developing new launch technologies. The Soviets were also developing theirs. The U.S. publicized their attempts but the Soviets didn’t, and the result was that everyone thought that our rockets always blew up but theirs didn’t.
It looks like people are still subject to the same influences. We don’t seem to be learning as much from history as we think we are learning.