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Starliner valve investigation continues to focus on moisture interaction with propellant - SpaceNews
Oct 15, 2021 1 min, 15 secs
— Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner was within hours of launch on its second uncrewed test flight in early August when stuck valves in the spacecraft’s propulsion system forced a launch scrub that has turned into a delay that will extend well into next year.

The company had worked for a year and a half to correct software problems that cut short the first uncrewed test flight, called Orbital Flight Test (OFT), in December 2019.

The valves will be sent to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center for CT scans and additional tests, said Michelle Parker, vice president and chief engineer of space and launch engineering at Boeing.

One of the biggest issues is why the corrosion showed up on this spacecraft when it was not seen in the first uncrewed test flight or other ground tests of the spacecraft.

“These are the same valves, same part numbers, that we’ve had in our service module hotfire, in our pad abort test in New Mexico, and OFT-1.

Boeing is still weighing options ranging from repairs to the service module currently installed to replacing the service module entirely with the one being built for the Crew Flight Test mission.

Vollmer said repairing the servicing module provides the quickest path to a new launch attempt.

Whether the service module is repaired or replaced, he said the next launch attempt won’t be until as late as the middle of 2022.

We’re looking at the length of time that the NTO is in the system,” Parker said.

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