Six years ago, a rare Russian abort during an astronaut launch caused delays in human spacecraft schedules. This week, NASA may face the same after a rare failure during a SpaceX launch.during liftoff. The two astronauts on board were safe, but for several weeks, it was unclear if the usual six-month rotation of ISS crews would be disrupted. .
The final push to launch CFT with the two astronauts, former U.S. Navy test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, took more effort. All initially appeared on track for a May 6, 2024 launch untilrocket, which has flown with no failures in more than 80 missions. That valve forced a delay, during which NASA and Boeing uncovered a small helium leak in one thruster of the reaction control system for Starliner.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore wearing Boeing spacesuits in the Starliner spacecraft simulator at NASA's Johnson Space Center during emergency training on Nov. 3, 2022.NASA and Boeing have indefinitely extended what was supposed to be a 10-day CFT mission while carefully investigating what happened, which now includes testing thrusters on the ground to see if they can uncover the issue.
Wilmore pointed to ongoing ground tests at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico as a key step in understanding why the thrusters had issues during docking."We are going to learn from that," he said."We're going to incorporate new processes and procedures that we will employ, if necessary."The nine astronauts currently aboard the International Space Station pose for a photo.
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