The Inverse Function of Boeing and Going

For purpose of resolving two newly-discovered issues plaguing its Starliner capsule, Boeing set forth on Thursday, 01 June 2023, that it was standing down from a planned 21 July launch of subject spacecraft.

Boeing vice-president Mark Nappi disclosed the issues—both of which are reportedly serious in nature—were discovered prior to the Memorial Day weekend. Mr. Nappi further stated Boeing company personnel key to the Starliner program had spent the holiday investigating the issues and, following internal discussions participated in by Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, elected to delay the test-flight which would have seen NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore conveyed to the International Space Station aboard Starliner.

During a teleconference with reporters, Nappi remarked: "Safety is always our top priority, and that drives this decision.”

The first of the two observed issues involves so-called soft links in the lines by which the Starliner capsule is joined to its landing parachutes. Boeing discovered the links were not as durable as previously believed.

Substandard parachute links would be of no issue during a nominal spaceflight. Starliner’s atmospheric re-entry system, however, is designed to land the crew safely in the event one of the three main parachutes fails. Engineers discovered the links in the lines by which Starliner’s main reentry parachutes are connected to spacecraft would likely have failed under the load of the capsule’s mass and inertia had one of the parachutes failed to deploy or deployed improperly.

The second issue pertains to the P-213 glass cloth tape with which wiring-harnesses throughout Starliner are wrapped. The tape—intended to protect the hundreds of feet of wiring-harnesses salient to the function of the capsule’s complex electric system from nicks and fraying—was determined, under certain circumstances common to spaceflight, to be flammable. The obvious parallels to Apollo I are disconcerting in the extreme.

Boeing’s Starliner project—in both the figurative and literal senses—has proved reluctant to get off ground. The contraption’s first orbital test flight was plagued with failures and errors of such severity that the craft was nearly lost—twice. The poor showing occasioned an investigation that turned up no fewer than eighty corrective recommendations. As the full list of post-flight recommendations was deemed company-sensitive and proprietary, only those changes publicly disclosed are known—which is to say the identified problems and resultant recommendations may have numbered a great deal more than eighty.

Starliner’s second orbital test flight—unplanned but necessitated by the sloppy inaugural outing—was protractedly delayed as Boeing engineers grappled with successive software and propulsion system malfunctions. When Orbital Flight Test Two (OFT-2) finally launched on 19 May 2022, the mission was plagued by multiple thruster, cooling system, and navigational breakdowns.

The newly-scrubbed flight was to have been the spacecraft’s maiden crewed voyage to the ISS. Whether or not a manned Starliner mission may yet be attempted in 2023 remains to be seen. Mr. Nappi posited the undertaking of such a launch before year’s end remained feasible, but eschewed details, stating: "I certainly wouldn't want to commit to any dates or timeframes.”

In late-May 2023, NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel urged the space agency to retain independent experts to assess the viability of Boeing’s Starliner.

Panel chair Patricia Sanders stated on 25 May: “Given the number of remaining challenges to certification of Starliner, we strongly encourage NASA to step back and take a measured look at the remaining body of work with respect to flying CFT [Crewed Flight Test].”

Boeing’s long-term commitment to the deeply-in-the-red Starliner program has been questioned. Following certification of the spacecraft—a feat contingent upon the completion of a manned test-flight—Boeing is contractually-obligated to fly six missions on NASA’s behalf. Already, the Arlington, Virginia-based aerospace titan has received much of the $4.2-billion with which it was to have developed and certified Starliner and conducted the entirety of the six spaceflights with which it is tasked. That Boeing stands to incur lesser losses by shelving Starliner and repaying NASA—rather than pouring untold billions into the spacecraft’s continuing development, certification, and a half-dozen orbital missions—is a truism of which both NASA’s and Boeing’s accountants are acutely aware.

Asked if Boeing’s upper management has had discussions pertaining to pulling Starliner’s proverbial plug, Mr. Nappi replied: “Not serious discussions about that."

FMI: www.boeing.com