Could this spell the end for Boeing's Starliner program?
Starliner was designed to still be able to slowly descend to Earth if one parachute were to fail. However, the issue with the soft links means that the remaining two parachutes might not be able to hold the strain if one were to fail.
The second, arguably more serious, issue is related to the P-213 glass cloth tape wrapped around wiring harnesses in the capsule. These run throughout the spacecraft, totaling hundreds of feet of wiring harnesses designed to protect the wiring from small scratches. During recent tests, the Starliner team found that, under specific circumstances that are possible during flight, the tape is flammable.
Back in 2014, NASA contracted both Boeing and SpaceX to develop crew capsules to carry its astronauts to the ISS. SpaceX successfully carried humans to the orbital station with itsin May 2020 and it is now preparing for Crew-7, its seventh operational mission not including the Demo-2 test flight. Boeing, meanwhile, has flown two uncrewed test flights of Starliner, one of which failed to reach the ISS. When Orbital Flight Test 2 did reach the space station a year ago, it looked like things might be back on track. Now, though, it is unclear when Boeing and NASA will attempt to launch astronauts aboard Starliner.
During the press conference, Nappu said it is "feasible" that the Starliner CFT mission could still launch in 2023, though he added that he "certainly wouldn't want to commit to any dates or timeframes." He also added that there have been "no serious discussions" regarding a potential termination of the Starliner program.
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