Boeing’s first manned space mission for NASA was postponed again. They now plan to launch the Starliner capsule by April 2023, when two astronauts will board the vehicle for a test flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
NASA said on Thursday: “The date adjustment eliminates traffic conflicts to visit the space station (SpaceX aims to launch the next Crew-6 mission in mid-February 2023), while NASA and Boeing are working together to achieve flight readiness.”
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Boeing previously planned to conduct its first crewed mission, the Crewed Flight Test (CFT), in December 2022. But they announced at the end of August that the goal had been pushed back to February 2023 to allow more time to resolve issues discovered during the capsule’s first trip to the International Space Station.
In the Unmanned Orbital Test Mission 2 (OFT-2) completed in May this year, the “Starship” test mission was a success, but the first attempt in December 2019 encountered various software problems, ended up getting stuck on the wrong track for a rendezvous with Orbital Lab.
Of course, the OFT-2 mission can be said to be successful, but not completely smooth. Boeing said the Starliner experienced some minor anomalies, such as several problems with the thrusters, which NASA and Boeing are still working on ahead of the CFT launch.
“The Starship and United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket hardware remains on track to be ready in early 2023,” NASA said. “The joint team will continue to eliminate the of2 anomaly and work closely together to determine future work to ensure that crew flights have met all requirements.”
