NASA, Boeing delay return of Starliner spacecraft after 5th helium leak found

so here we are in the front of the International Space Station where our spacecraft docked it was a delayed arrival for sunny Williams and Butch Wilmore on the International Space Station and the pair are learning their stay will last a little longer NASA and Boeing announcing they will be pushing back starliners return trip to Earth until June 22nd that flight already delayed initially expected to return June 14th before being pushed to the 18th earlier this week in a joint statement NASA’s commercial crew program manager said We are continuing to understand the capab AB ilities of Starliner to prepare for the long-term goal of having it perform a six-month docked Mission at the space station one ignition the mission already hitting a milestone by getting a crude spacecraft docked to the ISS despite being years behind SpaceX and more than $ 1.5 billion doll us over budget looks like we picked up a couple more helium leaks on top of those obstacles Starliner has seen five helium leaks and five failures of its more than two dozen thrusters since it launched it’s sort of providing the pressure that’s needed to feed uh the propellant into the rocket engines so it is a big um you know big component and a big factor in um in launch systems uh now these leaks have been fairly minor experts say bumps in the road are expected but the real impact is visible on Boeing’s turbulent reputation Aerospace company that once led the way in engineering and development has seen a shift in recent years Western University’s Rob Austin says the company’s ch change in management strategy has come at a cost for large projects like Starliner they have uh lost the ability to do certain very Advanced technological things they’ve lost a lot of people uh but they have also shifted their management philosophy if you’ve made a decision as a company that there should be no more moonshots you’re not very good at the moonshots when they act the real ones when they come along Kyle Benning Global News

NASA is once again delaying a return flight from the International Space Station (ISS) for two astronauts testing a Boeing spacecraft. The Starliner has been plagued by issues in the lead up to last week’s launch and has seen several helium leaks since lifting off.

In a statement earlier this week, NASA wrote that spacecraft teams are examining “what impacts — if any — five small leaks in the service module helium manifolds would have on the remainder of the mission.”

The news follows what can only be called a dicey start to the mission. After failed back-to-back launch attempts, the Starliner capsule finally launched last week. Once approaching the space station, it missed its first docking opportunity on June 6 due to technical issues.

Global’s Kyle Benning has the latest.

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