⇒ All Things Boeing ... Boeing’s first astronaut launch called off due to faulty valve

Old_Joe

Here are excerpts from a current report in The Guardian:

Boeing called off its first astronaut launch because of a valve problem on its rocket on Monday night.

Two Nasa test pilots had just strapped into Boeing’s Starliner capsule when the countdown was halted, just two hours before the planned liftoff. A United Launch Alliance engineer, Dillon Rice, said the issue involved an oxygen relief valve on the upper stage of the company’s Atlas rocket.

There was no immediate word on when the team would try again to launch the test pilots to the International Space Station for a week-long stay. It was the latest delay for Boeing’s first crew flight, on hold for years because of capsule trouble.

Nasa hired Boeing and SpaceX a decade ago to ferry astronauts to and from the space station after the shuttle program ended, paying the private companies billions of dollars. SpaceX has been in the orbital taxi business since 2020.

Starliner’s debut test flight, without a crew, in 2019 ended up in the wrong orbit and failed to reach the space station, forcing Boeing to repeat the demo before astronauts could fly. Following more reviews last year, the company had to fix the capsule’s parachutes and yank out a mile of flammable tape.

Old_Joe

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hank

Thanks for the update @Old_Joe.

I happened to watch the NASA press conference late last evening. Five reps from across the spectrum, including Launch Alliance and Boeing. That relief valve you mention was detected “buzzing” (apparently by other sensors). A buzzing sound indicates a “flutter” condition. Going further - the flutter could cause premature wear on the valve so that it might not operate throughout the flight. Doing a valve reset or test would have required some type of “fuel transfer”. Perfectly acceptable on non-crewed missions. But LA rules are stricter when humans are aboard. There was a mild “dig” at SpaceX from the Launch Alliance engineer. He noted that “others” continue fueling their rockets with people aboard, but their own rules don’t allow this, as it is seen as too dangerous.

Geez. This really is ”rocket science”. Difficult to imagine the complexity of these things.

Crash

For BA: Just another brick in the wall. One thing after another. After another. Ya, rockets are complicated. Oxygen relief valve. Yes, sounds dangerous.

Reminds me of Apollo I, but after that horrible fire, NASA stopped using a pure oxygen atmosphere in their space vehicles. I don't suppose the scrubbed current mission was using pure oxygen, either.....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1