Source Says Many Elements Were Overstressed In Uncrewed Test Flight

The recent uncrewed test of Boeing's Starliner commercial crew system left NASA and Boeing with a lot of questions to answer, including whether another unmanned flight would be required before allowing humans to fly in the spacecraft.

ArsTechnica reports along with investigations of the "mission elapsed timer anomaly" which caused the spacecraft to miss its target orbit, and determining whether a second unmanned test should be performed, a source at the agency says the overall performance of the thruster system is also being evaluated.

Jim Chilton, Boeing's senior vice president of the Space and Launch division, said during a post-flight news conference that the service module thrusters were "stressed" due to their unconventional use as they tried to push the spacecraft into the planned orbit. The company shut down a manifold which carries fuel to four thrusters but still saw the pressure go low because "it had been used a lot."

The source told ArsTechnica that at least eight thrusters on the service module failed at one point, and one did not fire at all.

The joint investigation being conducted by Boeing and NASA will include an assessment of the overall propulsion system performance and figuring out what caused the anomaly. Both Boeing and NASA said any further discussion while the investigation is ongoing would be "premature."

(Image provided by NASA)

FMI: Source report