“ We ’re anticipating that we ’re die to be ready with the spacecraft in early March , ” Mark Nappi , Boeing vice chairwoman and syllabus coach for Starliner , said during a military press group discussion on Monday . “ That does not imply that we have a launching date in early March … we’re now working with NASA Commercial Crew Program , ISS and [ United Launch Alliance ] on special launching date based on our readiness . ”
Starliner wasscheduled for launching on July 21for a crewed trial run flight , carry NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Barry “ Butch ” Wilmore to the ISS . A few workweek before its liftoff , however , Boeing announce anindefinite delayto Starliner ’s launch date due to the surfacing of two major prophylactic matter . Now , Boeing and NASA are claiming that they have come up with solution to the ejection seat ’s safety hazards .
“ NASA and Boeing put in place several different layer of main inspection to work through the matter and to make trusted that we did n’t have anything else out there , ” Steve Stich , manager of NASA ’s Commercial Crew Program , said during the press conference .

Crew Flight Test vehicle going into the Hazardous Processing Area in the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility in April 2023.Photo: Boeing/John Grant
The first job had to do with the load content of Starliner ’s three parachutes , which are designed to ensure a safe landing place for the crowd vehicle . The fabric section of the parachute have a failure freight limitation lower than expect , implying that if one chute fails , the stay two would be incapable of adequately decelerate the ballistic capsule for its landing in New Mexico .
In parliamentary procedure to fix the issue , the squad behind Starliner has redesign the parachute ’s “ soft nexus , ” which attach the parachute to the capsule , according to Stich . A parachute driblet tryout is planned for mid - to - late November , with the final parachute scheduled to be delivered later in December .
The second issue involved C of feet of protective tape recording used to insulate the wiring harnesses inside the Starliner vehicle , which were discovered to be inflammable . The team has removed a “ square ” amount of the flammable magnetic tape from the fomite , according to Stich . “ We ’ve also educate a few techniques to to extenuate multiplication should anything happen and additional tape to apply , ” he added .

Even after resolving these result and getting the fomite ready for flight , Boeing still has to consider the space station ’s schedule , as well as the availability of ULA ’s Atlas V skyrocket , which will carry Starliner to orbit , before deciding on a launching date .
Despite the several takings that have provoke Boeing ’s Starliner broadcast , NASA still seems committed to having a second commercial partner launch its astronauts to the ISS . “ I ’ll severalize you from an ISS viewpoint , the Starliner fomite remains a in high spirits antecedence to the space station curriculum , ” Joel Montalbano , manager of NASA ’s ISS Program , said during the printing press conference .
The troupe is under a$4.3 billioncontract with NASA to ravish spaceman back and forward to the ISS on board the CST-100 Starliner , the same manner that the blank agency ’s other commercial partner SpaceX does using its Dragon capsule . Except SpaceX is right smart ahead of the game , late plunge itssixth crewto the ISS while Boeing still remain at zero .

For Boeing , it ’s a desexualize - price declaration , so the company is having to encompass all over-the-hill price . The company of late announcedfurther losses to the Starliner programbased on its 2d poop 2023 financial earnings statement , revealing an additional $ 257 million hit . Boeing ’s total loss on the Starliner delegation now amount to a staggering $ 1.14 billion .
Boeing ’s Starliner crewed tryout flight of steps was originally schedule for February and then afterward strike to late April before its latest July launch date . The tryout flight is meant to show in the final process of indorse the Starliner spacecraft for veritable crewed flights to the ISS .
The space post is set to retire in 2030 , so Boeing is on a pissed deadline to guarantee that enough of its crewed condensation make the ISS to make this total ordeal somewhat worth it . “ Our plan all along has been to have two different , unique and diverse space transportation system , ” Stich said . “ We ’re working severely to get that in place . ”

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