CBS News reports that engineers are confident the leak will not worsen in flight, and even if it does, the Starliner can safely launch June 1. The article cites Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, who said that “even if a suspect shirt-button-size rubber seal in the plumbing leading to one specific thruster failed completely in flight — resulting in a leak rate 100 times worse than what’s been observed to date — the Starliner could still fly safely.”
Full Story (CBS News)
Tag: May 20
Starliner Crew Flight Test Delayed Further Due to Ongoing Helium Leak Review
Spaceflight Now reports that the shift in launch date is to allow more time to build in redundancy to account for the helium leak. The new target launch date is currently scheduled for “no earlier than Saturday, May 25, at 3:09 p.m. EDT .”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Blue Origin Announces Six Spaceflyers for Friday Trip
SPACE reports, “Blue Origin’s next set of spaceflyers includes a prior customer and the first Mexican-born woman to visit the final frontier.” The flight will depart from “Blue Origin’s Launch Site One near Van Horn, Texas, on Friday morning (May 20),” and its “New Shepard vehicle will carry six people on a brief trip to suborbital space.” These six individuals include: Evan Dick, who “previously flew to space on board the NS-19 mission of Dec. 11, 2021”; Katya Echazarreta, who “was sponsored by the nonprofit Space for Humanity” and “will become the first Mexican-born woman to visit space”; Hamish Harding, “a business jet pilot and chair of the business jet brokerage company Action Aviation”; Victor Correa Hespanha, “sponsored by the Crypto Space Agency”; Jaison Robinson, “a finalist on the TV show ‘Survivor: Samoa’ in 2009”; and Victor Vescovo, “a co-founder of the private equity investment firm Insight Equity and a retired U.S. Navy reservist and intelligence officer.”
Full Story (SPACE)