The Boeing and SpaceX commercial crew program launch dates are still spreading

Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. Image Credit: Nathan Koga / SpaceFlight Insider

NASA's commercial crew program continues to delay test flights, which could further exacerbate US access to the International Space Station.

CBS veteran correspondent William Harwood announced that the first non-motorized test flights of vehicles designed to transport astronauts to the space station had slipped again. The first non-equipped test flight is scheduled for January 2019. The first test flight with astronauts on board is scheduled five months later, in June.

In February 2017, SpaceX's chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, announced that "… we will not launch hell in 2018." As neither flights without or equipped with Dragon will be made before January, it seems that Shotwell could have been better served. make less reckless statements.

Things did not go wrong for the other CCP contractor, Boeing either.

Between breakdowns with the Aerojet Rocketdyne's stop engines, which are responsible for providing astronauts with the ability to safely land on Earth in case of trouble while ascending. At one point, NASA officials estimated that Boeing was the most successful country in terms of sending crews to the International Space Station. It seems now that the aerospace titan will be at least two months behind SpaceX.

Currently, the first flight of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner is scheduled for March 2019. The crew test flight is scheduled for August.

Although once considered the leader in early test flights, Boeing has lagged behind SpaceX – at least two months. Image Credit: James Vaughan / SpaceFlight Insider

Although these delays may have tarnished the accuracy of the proclamations and beliefs, they are not entirely the fault of the contractors. Instead, budget issues, as well as NASA's requirements, have seen the dates of the test flights sliding continuously to the right of the calendar. In fact, it seems that these last delays are due to these problems.

NASA mentioned some of these questions on his blog: Commercial Crew:

After the unmanned flight tests, both companies will conduct a flight test with the crew before being certified by NASA for crew rotation missions.

The commercial crew program is different from NASA's previous human space projects in that contractors outsourced to provide services under the program have greater flexibility in terms of the specificity of their individual products. . This is reflected in the disparate conceptions of the spacecraft, space suits and designations of the flights themselves. Boeing's unassembled test was dubbed the Boeing Orbital Flight Test, with the crewed mission called Boeing Crew Test. Respectively SpaceX has named their missions: SpaceX Demo-1 and SpaceX Demo-2.

After each mission, NASA will examine the behavior of the vehicles, their interaction with the space station and the astronauts who flew them. For the United States, the arrival of these spacecraft can not come soon enough.

For more than seven years, the United States has depended on Russia for the transportation of its astronauts to and from the ISS via the long line of Soyuz spacecraft. The two nations met several periods of cordial relations with, at one point, Dmitry Rogozin, a director of the State Space Activities Society of Roscosmos, saying: "After analyzing the sanctions against our space industry, I suggests to the United States to bring their astronauts to the international space station with the help of a trampoline. "

Coupled with the pressure leak of the Soyuz MS-09 satellite on August 29, 2018, NASA officials are probably looking forward to seeing the day when the agency will spend more than $ 70 million per seat in Soyuz.

Tagged: Boeing Commercial Crew Program ISS International Space Station ISS Space Center NASA SpaceX Initiative Stories

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Jason Rhian

Jason Rhian spent several years honing his skills doing internships with NASA, the National Space Society and other organizations. He has provided content to sites such as: Aviation Week & Space Technology, Space.com, The Mars Society and Universe Today.