Boeing is still struggling with problems with the Starliner. After years and years of continued delays and problems can we ever be confident that Boeing Starliner is reliably safe for human flight? Major operational and safety problems keep surfacing after years of rework. After it was fully reworked twice and it still has physical and other problems, then how can we be sure all of the problems have been found?
The Boeing Starliner has had years of problems. Boeing had to rewrite a lot of the software and had to rewire most of the vehicle. There have been major overhaul issues over the past 4-5 years after the first test flight. NASA had identified 80 issues with the Starliner after the first flight. The second flight reached orbit but did not go to the right orbit. 13 valves failed to open.
The helium leak was first detected during a launch attempt on May 6, 2024. At the time, engineers concluded the leak rate was small enough to permit launch, but the countdown was called off after engineers with Atlas-builder United Launch Alliance noted unusual behavior in an oxygen pressure relief valve in the rocket’s Centaur upper stage.
Managers eventually decided to haul the rocket back to the company’s Vertical Integration Facility to replace the valve. That work was completed without incident and the new valve was cleared for flight.
Boeing engineers took advantage of delay to carry out a more thorough assessment of the helium leak, which was traced to a specific reaction control system thruster in one of four doghouse assemblies mounted around the exterior of the Starliner’s drum-shaped service module.
Each doghouse features four orbital maneuvering and attitude control — OMAC — thrusters and four smaller reaction control system maneuvering jets. Pressurized helium gas is used to push propellants to the rocket motors in each doghouse as well as to four powerful launch abort engines that would only be fired in the event of a catastrophic booster failure.
Engineers tightened bolts around the flange where the leak was detected, pressurized the lines and then ran tests to determine if the leak was still present. In the meantime, launch was re-targeted for May 21 and then, when tests revealed the leak was still present, to Saturday to give engineers more time to assess the data.
The flight is now on hold indefinitely, pending results of the ongoing analysis
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It’s actually tragic the company that created the 707, 747, and B-52, all legendary aircraft has lost so much credibility. An article by Mark Walker and Niraj Chokshi in the May 7, 2024 NYT says the FAA is investigating if Boing “skipped” doing wing inspections on some 787 Dreamliner’s during the manufacturing process. And (wait for it) falsified documents saying they did. Jesus Christ!! (disclaimer: Christ had nothing to do with it)
That’s a lot worse then “just” sloppy. IMO, the word tragic applies very well to Boeing’s current corporate culture. All the more so because of the possible consequences of such irrational behavior. For a company that used to reliably make the coolest s*** so very well… Tragic…
I am seriously concerned that NASA needs to take an an “off-ramp” with Boeing. IMHO, there are multiple corporate safety concerns at present with Boeing corporate governance, that are not being realistically addressed. I would imagine that this is a corporate culture problem where the FAA will need to intervene…..
It seems like it might be time to pull the plug on that contract. It’s going to launch on an Atlas which won’t be available in the future anyway so the stack doesn’t really test anything that’s going to be viable. The ISS is near retirement. Boeing isn’t likely to get other contracts for it. End Orión, SLS, Starliner, and move on. It’s been dragged out long enough.
Boeing will have to do serious overhaul of the company. There practically isn’t a week without any issue with their aircraft. The latest were a hole in some of their engines in Senegal and people were bashing heads in the celling because some turbulence.