On May 26, NASA and Boeing said they were working on the July launch of the CST-100 Starliner on a crewed test flight, despite “new problems” and concerns expressed by a safety group. In a statement released just before business closure on the eve of the holiday weekend, the two organizations said they completed a “control review” on May 25 of preparations for the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission, currently scheduled for July. at the earliest 21. Two NASA astronauts, Butch Willmore and Suni Williams, will fly the CFT to the International Space Station on a short test flight, the first flight of a crewed spacecraft.

NASA and Boeing announced that they have completed 95% of the certification work required for CFT. They also looked at all the anomalies of the Orbital Flight Test (OFT) 2 mission, the unmanned Starliner test flight to the ISS a year ago.

“We are taking a methodical approach to the first crewed flight of the Starliner, taking into account all the lessons learned from the various advanced testing campaigns,” Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, said in a statement. “In addition to completing ongoing work, the team remains vigilant to monitor for new technical issues as we complete certification for manned flights.”

The statement cited “emerging issues that need to be addressed” before NASA and Boeing decided in June to refuel the spacecraft for a July launch. Earlier this year, Boeing officials said they decided to refuel the spacecraft only 60 days after launch to reduce fuel leaks that could corrode the valves, and are suspending OFT-2’s August 2021 launch attempt.

Problems included replacing a valve in the thermal control system in the spacecraft’s service module, which reduced flow in one of the two redundant circuits that cool the vehicle’s avionics systems. NASA and Boeing said the valve replacement will take about a week and shouldn’t affect the CFT’s launch schedule. Engineers are also evaluating whether the tape used in the wiring poses a risk of ignition. While this tape is commonly used on other spacecraft, they are evaluating whether it is acceptable for crewed flights. The organizations said an assessment should be made before deciding to refuel the spacecraft.

Another proven system is the Starliner parachutes. NASA and Boeing said they were re-evaluating the parachute inventory, including the “overall effectiveness” of the connections in this system, to ensure the necessary safety factors for the crewed spacecraft were met.

The announcement came a day after an open meeting of NASA’s Aviation Safety Advisory Group (ASAP), where committee chair Patricia Sanders expressed her concerns about completing work on time, such as parachute certification for the scheduled July 21 launch.

“It is critical that NASA not inadvertently pressure NASA to initiate CFT without properly addressing all certification hurdles,” he said, and recommended that NASA form an independent group, such as the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, for a deeper look. in the elements on the way to closure”.

The ASAP meeting was not mentioned in the NASA/Boeing statement. However, it did address an issue that Sanders raised about the spacecraft’s batteries. The organizations said they have approved the batteries for use in the CFT “based on additional testing and analysis” with a recommendation to upgrade the batteries in future missions. Stich said in a statement that the agency and company have made progress since late March when they announced that the certification work would move the CFT launch from April to July.

“If you look at the job that was ahead of us two months ago, it’s almost all over,” he said. “The combined crew is determined and committed to sending the crew to Starliner as soon as it is safe.”

However, it did not rule out a shift from the current July launch date. “If we need to make changes to the program in the future, we will certainly do so as we have done in the past. We will only fly when we are ready.”