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Boeing Starliner launch slips to at least June 1 for extended helium leak analysis
The launch of Boeing’s star-crossed Starliner spacecraft on its first piloted test flight is slipping to at least June 1 to give engineers more time to assess a small-but-persistent helium leak in the capsule’s propulsion system, and its potential impact across all phases of flight, NASA announced Wednesday.
Already years behind schedule and more than $1 billion over budget, the Starliner’s road to launch has been surprisingly rocky, with multiple problems leading up to its first Crew Flight Test, which is now slipping nearly a month beyond its May 6 target.
United Launch Alliance
That launch attempt was called off because of unrelated trouble with a valve in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket that was quickly corrected. But the helium leak in the Starliner’s service module, detected during the May 6 countdown, has proven to be more difficult to resolve to everyone’s satisfaction.
At the time, NASA officials said the leak was within acceptable limits and would not have triggered a launch scrub on its own. But after additional inspections — and an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate the leak by tightening bolts in a flange where it appeared to be originating — mission managers began a more comprehensive analysis.
The helium helps pressurize the spacecraft’s propulsion system, and if too much gas leaks away — the thrusters used for launch aborts, maneuvers in orbit to rendezvous with the International Space Station, and departure and re-entry — all could be affected. While the leak appears to be stable, NASA is looking for “flight rationale” showing it won’t worsen in flight.
“As part of this work, and unrelated to the current leak, which remains stable, teams are in the process of completing a follow-on propulsion system assessment to understand potential helium system impacts on some Starliner return scenarios,” NASA said in a statement late Wednesday.
That will be the subject of a second flight readiness review in the next several days. In the meantime, mission commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams will remain at the Johnson Space Center practicing procedures in high fidelity flight simulators. They’ll fly back to Florida next week if mission managers clear the Starliner for launch.
A launch on June 1 — the same day SpaceX may be targeting for the next flight of its Super Heavy-Starship rocket — would be set for 12:25 p.m. EDT, roughly the moment Earth’s rotation carries Pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida into the plane of the space station’s orbit.
If all goes well, the crew would dock at the lab’s forward port on June 2 and return to Earth with a landing at White Sands, New Mexico, on June 10. Assuming no major problems, NASA hopes to certify the Starliner for operational crew rotation flights to the station starting next year, alternating with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.
But that will require a full “human rating certification” for the Starliner, and that will depend on the results of the Crew Flight Test.
“It has been important that we take our time to understand all the complexities of each issue, including the redundant capabilities of the Starliner propulsion system and any implications to our interim human rating certification,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
“We will launch Butch and Suni on this test mission after the entire community has reviewed the teams’ progress and flight rationale” at the upcoming flight readiness review, Stich added.
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Former Bolivian President Evo Morales claims his car was fired upon in attempted assassination
Former President Evo Morales of Bolivia claimed he survived an assassination attempt on Sunday after unidentified men opened fire on his car. He was not injured and there was no immediate confirmation of the attack from authorities.
Morales alleged the shots were fired while he was being driven in Bolivia’s coca leaf-growing region of Chapare, the ex-president’s rural stronghold whose residents have blockaded the country’s main east-west highway for the past two weeks.
The roadblocks — protesting what Morales’ supporters decry as President Luis Arce’s attempts to sabotage his former mentor and bitter political rival — have isolated cities and disrupted food and fuel supplies.
Morales, who led Bolivia from 2006 to 2019, emerged unscathed from the alleged attack Sunday, appearing on his weekly radio show in his usual calm manner to recount what happened.
He told the radio host that as he was leaving home for the radio station, hooded men fired at least 14 shots at his car, wounding his driver.
Morales was quick to blame his successor, President Arce, with whom he is fighting to be the candidate of governing socialist party in next year’s presidential election. He claimed that Arce’s government resorted to physical force having been unable to defeat him politically.
Juan Karita / AP
“Arce is going to go down as the worst president in history,” Morales said. “Shooting a former president is the last straw.”
Officials in Arce’s government did not respond to requests for comment on the incident.
Cellphone video circulating online shows Morales’ driver bleeding from the back of his head. Morales can be seen in the passenger’s seat holding a phone to his ear as the vehicle swerves and a woman’s voice shrieks “Duck!”
The footage shows the car’s front windshield cracked by at least three bullets and its rear windshield shattered. Morales can be heard saying, “Papacho has been shot in the head,” apparently referring to his driver.
“They are shooting at us,” Morales continues on the phone. “They shot the tire of the car and it stopped on the road.”
Morales’ claim deepens political tensions in Bolivia at a volatile moment for the cash-strapped Andean nation of 12 million.
In June, there was an apparent attempted coup by a rogue military general leading a rebellion, where armored vehicles and troops marched to the presidential palace and tried to force their way into the building. The rebellion retreated after Arce confronted the general, bringing the alleged coup attempt to a head, and ordered him to stand down. The general and other senior officers were later arrested.
Then, last month, Morales led a massive march against the government’s mismanagement of the economy that quickly devolved into street clashes with pro-government mobs. Imported goods are scarce and prices are rising. Drivers wait for hours to fill up at gas stations. The gap between the official and black-market exchange rates is widening.
Earlier this month, the feud between Morales and Arce moved to the courts as Bolivian prosecutors launched an investigation into accusations that Morales fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2016, classifying their relationship as statutory rape.
Morales has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated and refused to testify in the case. Since reports surfaced of a possible arrest warrant against him, the ex-president has been holed up in the Chapare region, in central Bolivia, where supportive coca growers have kept vigilant watch to protect him from arrest.
President Arce accuses Morales of trying to undermine his administration to advance his own ambitions.
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