Boeing Starliner To Fly First Crew to ISS Without Fixing the Faulty Engine, Says Leak on Its Spaceship Is Totally Fine

Boeing plans to launch astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) without fixing a small helium gas leak on its faulty Starliner spaceship.

Scrubbed Space Mission

The vessel has been under development since various technical problems plagued it. This allowed its rival SpaceX to push ahead with the launch of its Crew Dragon space capsule.

Starliner was scheduled to finally launch astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the ISS on May 6. However, the plan was scrubbed hours before liftoff after experts discovered a faulty valve on the United Launch Alliance rocket that carries it. Since then, more issues have been found, including a helium leak in the service module that houses the propulsion system of the spacecraft.

Five years ago, a software defect led to a failed launch with the ISS during its first uncrewed test flight. A second software bug caused a collision between its modules, although it was discovered and fixed just in time. In 2021, blocked valves led to another postponement with the space rocket set on the launchpad for a new flight.

Finally, the vessel reached the orbital post in May 2022 in a non-crewed launch. However, other problems were detected and caused further postponement of the crewed test, including weak parachutes and flammable tape in the cabin, which must be removed.

The delayed mission comes at a challenging time for the aerospace company, as the safety crisis covers its commercial aviation arm. NASA also supports Starliner's goal of certifying a second commercial vehicle to deliver crews to the International Space Station, which it has achieved since the last space shuttle flew in 2011. A successful crewed mission would help dismiss the bitter taste left by various setbacks in the Starliner program.

Moving Forward With a Launch Attempt

On May 24, Boeing officially announced that it plans to schedule the launch on June 1 at 12:25 pm (1625 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It is still yet to fulfill its purpose of lifting astronauts to the orbital post despite the technical issues encountered by the engine.

While the rocket valve had been replaced, NASA and Boeing decided to launch the spaceship to the ISS without fixing the faulty component. Instead of fixing the leak, the team plans to monitor it during the hours before launch.

According to NASA's Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stitch, the team can handle a particular leak if its rate grows up to 100 times. He also added that it only affects just one of a set of 28 thrusters used in controlling the attitude of the spacecraft.

When asked why the company does not plan to replace the faulty seal, Mark Nappi, Boeing's vice president for the commercial crew program stated that the process would require taking apart Starliner components at its factory.

Stitch also argues that it was not unheard of to fly with leaks since space shuttles normally encounter similar problems at times. He also mentioned that they have had cases with Dragon where they had a few small leaks as well.