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The spacecraft that Boeing plans to use to transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station suffered a major setback when, during a test of its abortion system in June authorities discovered a thruster leak. In a statement to the Washington Post, Boeing said he had "conducted a thorough investigation with the help of our NASA and industry partners, we are confident that we have found the cause and are going to be there. before with corrective measures. " its launch schedule and is another setback for a program that has faced a number of problems. The problem also comes from the fact that Vice President Mike Pence is expected to announce the crews for the first missions during a ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in early August.
With SpaceX, Boeing is under contract with NASA. the space station. The "commercial program" would restore NASA's ability to steal humans from the United States – a capability that was lost when the space shuttle was withdrawn in 2011. Since then, the space agency has had to rely on the Russia to send its astronauts in space, at a cost of more than 80 million dollars (about 550 ccrores Rs) per seat
As part of the program, the Boeing contract was worth up to 4 $ 2 billion (about Rs 28,900 crore); SpaceX was $ 2.6 billion (about 17,900 crores) for the same number of flights.
The first test launches of the program with crews on board were to take place this year. But a recent report from the Government Accountability Office indicates that the company's schedules are "aggressive" and that Boeing "sets ambitious rather than realistic dates, only to delay them frequently."
SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Elon Musk, also faced challenges and is working to show NASA that it has corrected a problem that has caused the explosion of a of its Falcon 9 unmanned rockets in 2016.
In its report, the GAO stated that further delays could disrupt access to "the space station – which would be a huge embarrbadment for NASA The space agency relies on Boeing and SpaceX to fly astronauts, but the GAO said the delays could mean that the companies' spacecraft are not certified before the latest NASA flights for its astronauts on Russian rockets, which would keep an American presence on the station until early 2020.
Delays persist, NASA could end up with no way to get to the station, the orbiting laboratory that cost $ 100 billion As our partners finalize their systems, we evaluate the remaining technical details and timelines for the flight tests with and without crew. "
The agency has announced its intention to announce an update of the tests.
Boeing said to have discovered the thruster leak at the stop test of & # 39; Emergency in June at the test facility of White Sands in New Mexico
"The engines caught fire successfully and operated for the duration of the flight. "said the company in a statement." During the engine shutdown, an anomaly occurred that caused a propellant leak. "
The GAO reported another problem with the system. abandonment, a problem that caused a fall that could threaten the safety of the crew. "
Boeing said that he was correcting this problem and that it" would meet or exceed all the requirements of NASA. "
© The Washington Post 2018
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