Two more leaks emerged in the Starliner spacecraft manufactured by Boeing.
In the first crewed flight of the Starliner spacecraft by Boeing to the International Space Station (ISS), another two leaks came to light. The capsule was launched on Wednesday and these new leaks, along with an existing one that had allowed helium to escape, were discovered later that day. According to NASA's late evening announcement on its X platform, "the two affected helium valves were closed, and the spacecraft remains steady."
A few hours later, it was revealed that the mission commander had to postpone the docking of the Starliner spacecraft at the ISS, which had been planned for Thursday at 6:15 pm CEST.
Despite two previous launch attempts in May and June being aborted owing to technical issues, the launch of the Starliner spacecraft on Wednesday was eventually successful. In this maiden manned mission, 61-year-old US astronaut Butch Wilmore and 58-year-old Suni Williams are participating. They are tasked with manually guiding the spacecraft to the ISS, where they are expected to spend approximately a week.
Even before the launch, NASA and Boeing were aware of a tiny helium leak at one of the thrusters; this had been discovered following the first unsuccessful attempt in May. Test results showed the amount of escaping helium to be well below the threshold. The mission's leaders therefore decided against repairing the helium leak, as the spacecraft would have had to be sent back to the factory for disassembly. The other two helium leaks, which occurred after the launch, have raised fresh concerns.
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Following the discovery of additional leaks on the Starliner spacecraft during its flight, Boeing expressed concern over the impact on the future of its Starliner space capsule program.
Given the series of leak issues encountered during the Starliner spacecraft's flight with Boeing's Starliner space capsule, NASA will need to conduct a thorough investigation and assessment before deciding on any further missions.
