More helium leaks occurred on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft en route to the International Space Station (ISS) with a NASA crew on board.
In addition to the helium leak detected before liftoff, the Starliner team discovered two new leaks on the spacecraft after Wednesday’s launch, NASA said disclose “The two affected helium valves have been closed and the spacecraft remains stable,” the space agency wrote.
Starliner manned flight test Departs on June 5 from Space Force Station Cape Canaveral, Florida. The capsule launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams. This is the first time Starliner has carried a crew; the test flight encountered multiple delays and problems before launch.
The company was originally scheduled to launch Starliner on May 6, but at the last minute, an abnormality occurred in one of the Atlas V rocket’s pressure valves. Manned test flight postponed to May 17. However, just days before launch, the Starliner team Small helium leak detected in the spacecraft’s service module, prompting them to postpone the launch to May 21 and then indefinitely.
The spacecraft consists of a reusable crew module and an expendable service module. Helium is used in spacecraft thruster systems, allowing the thrusters to ignite without burning or becoming toxic.
Last week, Boeing and NASA announced that they had The decision was made to continue flying the crew Without resolving the issue, the leaked Starship was investigated and deemed not to pose a risk to astronaut safety. At the time, NASA seemed confident in its commercial partner’s vehicle, despite the helium leak. “If the leak rate increases to 100 times, we can handle this particular leak,” Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, said at a press conference at the time.
Starliner was planned in docking with the International Space Station on Thursday The crew was delivered to the space station at 12:15 pm ET. The capsule is expected to stay in low-Earth orbit for about a week before returning astronauts to Earth. It’s unclear whether additional leaks will prevent NASA from once again relying on Starliner to transport its crews.
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