The US space agency acknowledged on Friday that several problems had endangered the astronauts’ capsule. Boeing, Starliner, during its test flight empty in December. NASA regrets systemic problems in the aerospace giant.
The flight “suffered a lot of anomalies,” admitted NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine during a press conference call, calling “never, never be afraid of the truth.”
LIVE NOW: Experts share info about Boeing’s #Starliner Orbital Flight Test reviews. Hear from:
– Administrator @JimBridenstine
– @DouglasLoverro
– Kathy Lueders of our @Commercial_Crew Program
– Jim Chilton & John Mulholland of @BoeingSpace???? LISTEN: https://t.co/vMxa9le9Ti pic.twitter.com/urHCQKl3iv
– NASA (@NASA) February 7, 2020
The software anomalies are likely symptoms of the “real problem,” that “we have had many procedural malfunctions in the software development and test cycle,” said Doug Loverro, the manager of human spaceflight at Nasa. “The supervision of NASA has been insufficient, it is obvious,” he admitted.
The first software problem, discovered shortly after the launch on December 20, prevented Starliner from getting into good orbit, which should have gone to the International Space Station but had to return to Earth two days later. Manual intervention prevented the “loss” of the vehicle, according to NASA.
Device destruction avoided
The second was the inability to communicate with the spacecraft for several minutes due to radio “noise” probably from ground communications. It hadn’t been anticipated, Boeing said.
The third problem, revealed only Thursday by a NASA security committee and confirmed Friday by NASA and Boeing, could also have caused the destruction of the aircraft.
The system managing the service module, a part of the vessel which detaches from the manned module before reentry, contained a computer code error. The error would have caused the thrusters to push the service module toward the manned module, which could have caused an impact, destabilize the vehicle or damage its heat shield, said Boeing’s Jim Chilton.
Corporate culture at issue
This error was not discovered until late on the Saturday evening before landing. The fix was downloaded just under three hours before by Boeing engineers, according to John Mulholland, Starliner project manager. Nothing had filtered at the time.
The findings of the independent investigation will be ready in late February. NASA officials have refused to speculate on the timing consequences, when Starliner is scheduled to take its first astronauts to the ISS in the coming months.
Doug Loverro discussed possible problems in Boeing’s corporate “culture”, and alluded to anomalies in “other parts”, a likely reference to the 737 MAX plane crisis. (Ps / nxp)
Created: 08.02.2020, 02:32
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