Starliner returns to Boeing space capsule factory and delays test flight by several months

The U.S. company said on Friday (August 13) that Boeing’s Starliner space capsule should be returned to factory for repairs. The departure for the International Space Station had to be canceled last week due to problems with the propulsion system.

This new setback postpones this important test flight to Boeing and NASA for at least several months. The capsule must be removed from the top of the Atlas V rocket and returned to the Kennedy Center plant in Florida (USA) for inspection, Boeing said in a statement.

In order to allow NASA to guide its astronauts back from American soil to the International Space Station, the capsule must be one of two with SpaceX. Since the launch of the spacecraft in 2011, the space agency has relied heavily on Russian rockets. If SpaceX had now sent less than ten astronauts to the ISS, including the Frenchman Thomas Pesket, Boeing would still have to pass its first unmanned test aircraft, which would have to prove that the capsule was safe.

This is probably “Too soon to say” John Wolmer, vice president and director of Boeing’s commercial flight program, told a news conference that the drone would take place this year. This test flight was first attempted in 2019, but then came close to disaster due to a software issue.