A failed Boeing mission that left two astronauts stranded in orbit around the International Space Station for nine months has prompted criticism from NASA’s new boss: Report release.
Administrator Jared Isaacman said Starliner’s problems were due to Boeing’s poor leadership and decision-making.
Two test pilots, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were scheduled to be the first Starliner crew to launch into space in June 2024 for an eight-day test mission.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said problems with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft need to be resolved before anyone else can fly. (Reuters: Joe Skipper )
Problems with Starliner’s propulsion system caused a series of delays in the return trip, culminating in NASA’s decision to bring the SpaceX spacecraft back to Earth as part of NASA’s crew change schedule.
A report on the mission failure was released by NASA, declaring it a “Type A accident” with potential danger to the crew.
Researchers identified a complex combination of hardware failures, qualification gaps, leadership failures, and cultural breakdowns that created a risk condition inconsistent with NASA’s human spaceflight safety standards.
Isaacman said Starliner’s problems need to be better understood and resolved before more astronauts join.
He added that it was a mistake not to designate Starliner as a major accident from the beginning, citing Boeing’s internal pressure to get operations and operations back on track.
“This is just about doing the right thing,” he said.
“This is about setting the record straight.”
Thruster failures and other problems meant that Wilmore and Williams almost never reached the space station after liftoff.
No one was injured and the mission regained control before docking, but this highest classification designation recognizes the potential for serious mishaps.
“This could have been a really bad day,” NASA Deputy Administrator Amit Kshatriya said, referring to the potential loss of life.
Key findings included in the report include:
• Improper qualification testing of propulsion systems.
• Insufficient flight data limits the ability to evaluate thruster performance.
• Schedule pressure: Years of closeness to launch created a high-stress environment, required limited risk mitigation efforts, and contributed to low trust and overall fatigue with employees.
• Cultural and contractual mismatches.: The shared responsibility model was poorly understood and inconsistently applied, leading to confusion about roles, responsibilities, and risk ownership.
The findings are even more I’ll explain it in detail here.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft will approach the International Space Station in June 2024 after experiencing a thruster failure. (AP: NASA)
“The Boeing Starliner spacecraft has faced challenges from its unmanned missions to its most recent manned mission. While Boeing built Starliner, NASA accepted and launched two astronauts into space,” Isaacman said at a press conference.
“The technical difficulties encountered during docking with the International Space Station were very evident.”
Boeing said the findings will help the company make progress in ensuring crew safety, and stressed that the Starliner program will continue.
Despite the difficulties, the stranded astronauts said they intended to fly another Starliner mission “soon” after returning to Earth, and said they and all levels of staff took responsibility for the mistake.
No date has yet been set for when Boeing will be able to launch Starliner on another test flight to prove its safety before astronaut flights.
The grounding leaves Elon Musk’s SpaceX as the only U.S. taxi service for astronauts.
“Boeing has made significant progress in remediating the technical challenges we encountered and has implemented significant cultural changes across our team,” Boeing said in a statement.
History of Starliner problems
This isn’t the first time Boeing has experienced problems with the Starliner.
The first test flight in 2019, with no one on board, ended up falling into the wrong orbit and forcing a re-flight, which had its own challenges.
Following the retirement of the Space Shuttle, NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX in 2014 to shuttle astronauts to and from orbiting labs.
Their contracts are worth billions of dollars.
SpaceX just sent its 13th crew member to NASA’s space station since 2020.
NASA said it will continue to work closely with Boeing to fully understand and resolve the Starliner aircraft’s technical challenges and will incorporate the study’s recommendations before flying its next mission.