First manned Boeing Starliner flight delayed again

The first manned test flight of the crisis-ridden Starliner spaceship to the International Space Station has to be postponed again. The of Boeing developed capsule should now at the earliest 21 July for the first time with people on board ISS beginning.

In a press conference by NASA and Boeing, the reasons why the premiere of the first manned ISS flight was delayed again were given. According to that it should no new glitches have given.

Parachute system causes delays

The parachute system the Starliner capsule was, according to NASA additional tests subjected. The capsule was dropped from different heights under different operations and tested extensively.

First mission scheduled for a week

Problems there is none with the parachute system, according to NASA. You just need more time to be able to evaluate all the test results. Since important supply missions to the ISS are already planned for May and June, one has been decided shift decided in July.

Die first manned Starliner mission to the ISS is scheduled to last around a week. The plan is for Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams to be the first NASA astronauts to fly to the space station in the Boeing vehicle.

mishaps and setbacks

The development of the Boeing space capsule can already point to a long list of setbacks and look back at delays. End 2019 The Starliner spacecraft attempted to dock with the ISS for the first time.

But because of one software error the ignition of the engines was faulty, as a result of which the capsule ended up in the wrong orbit found. A docking maneuver with the ISS never even happened. At least the capsule was able to touch down safely on the surface of the earth.

First successful flight to the ISS

Im last May Starliner then completed a successful but unmanned flight to the ISS for the first time and spent 4 days there. In the future, the Boeing spacecraft is to be used as an alternative to the Crew Dragon space capsule SpaceX serve and fly to the ISS about once a year.