The launch of Boeing’s already delayed Starliner spacecraft is slipping at least four more days, from next Tuesday to May 25 because of ongoing work to resolve concerns about a small helium leak in the capsule’s propulsion system, officials said Friday.Mission commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams are now aiming for launch from Pad 41 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 3:09 p.m. EDT a week from Saturday, setting up a docking at the International Space Station the next day, May 26, at 4:12 p.m.The astronauts had hoped to take off on the Starliner’s first piloted test flight on May 6, but the countdown was called off because of trouble with an oxygen pressure relief valve in their Atlas 5 rocket’s Centaur upper stage. Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket’s Centaur second stage at launch complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station earlier this month. / Credit: United Launch AllianceThe Atlas 5, built by United Launch Alliance, was hauled from the pad back to the company’s nearby Vertical Integration Facility where the suspect valve was replaced and cleared for launch.The unrelated helium leak in the Starliner’s propellant pressurization system was noted during the original countdown to launch, but it remained within safe limits for flight. After the Atlas 5 and Starliner were rolled back to the VIF for the oxygen valve replacement, managers decided to take a closer look at the helium issue.The leak was detected in plumbing making up helium manifold No. 2 inside one of four “doghouse” assemblies spaced around the exterior of the Starliner’s drum-shaped service module. Each doghouse features four Orbital Maneuvering and Attitude Control — OMAC — thrusters, and four small 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 problem with the Atlas 5 on the way to orbit.Engineers tightened bolts in a flange where the leak was detected, pressurized t …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnThe launch of Boeing’s already delayed Starliner spacecraft is slipping at least four more days, from next Tuesday to May 25 because of ongoing work to resolve concerns about a small helium leak in the capsule’s propulsion system, officials said Friday.Mission commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams are now aiming for launch from Pad 41 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 3:09 p.m. EDT a week from Saturday, setting up a docking at the International Space Station the next day, May 26, at 4:12 p.m.The astronauts had hoped to take off on the Starliner’s first piloted test flight on May 6, but the countdown was called off because of trouble with an oxygen pressure relief valve in their Atlas 5 rocket’s Centaur upper stage. Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket’s Centaur second stage at launch complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station earlier this month. / Credit: United Launch AllianceThe Atlas 5, built by United Launch Alliance, was hauled from the pad back to the company’s nearby Vertical Integration Facility where the suspect valve was replaced and cleared for launch.The unrelated helium leak in the Starliner’s propellant pressurization system was noted during the original countdown to launch, but it remained within safe limits for flight. After the Atlas 5 and Starliner were rolled back to the VIF for the oxygen valve replacement, managers decided to take a closer look at the helium issue.The leak was detected in plumbing making up helium manifold No. 2 inside one of four “doghouse” assemblies spaced around the exterior of the Starliner’s drum-shaped service module. Each doghouse features four Orbital Maneuvering and Attitude Control — OMAC — thrusters, and four small 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 problem with the Atlas 5 on the way to orbit.Engineers tightened bolts in a flange where the leak was detected, pressurized t …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
