Boeing’s credibility is at stake with its difficulties in airplanes, but also in space. For the umpteenth time, the American company had to abandon the flight of its Starliner capsule during a manned mission to the ISS. A new shot is expected on June 5.
It was supposed to be a big day for Boeing, the day the Starliner capsule would finally take off with a crew on board, heading for the International Space Station (ISS). But that’s not what happened on June 1, 2024. Just minutes before launch, a technical problem grounded the spacecraft.
An incident which forced the American manufacturer to postpone the launch for the umpteenth time. This is now hoped for June 5, still from Cape Canaveral in Florida, or the 6th in the event of a slight postponement. Until then, the two astronauts selected for the trip — Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams — will have to wait, again.
In a June 2 update, Boeing indicated that a “ ground equipment on the launch pad encountered problems during the countdown ”, which caused the cancellation of the flight. The Atlas V rocket that will send the Starliner into space is provided by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and… Boeing.
The first observations of the ULA teams suggest a “ problem with a single ground power supply in one of three redundant chassis that power a subset of computer boards controlling various system functions. » Among it, card in charge of the filling valves of the upper stage of Atlas V.
However, Boeing continues, “ These three chassis must enter the final phase of the launch countdown to ensure the safety of the crew. » The faulty equipment was replaced with a replacement chassis. The root causes of the problem are not yet known, but at least this component is working well now.
2,500 days that Starliner is supposed to have passed
It is not uncommon for difficulties to appear before a flight and force the mission manager to postpone the launch for safety reasons – the problems can be of a technical nature (a problem with the launcher, with its loading, on the ground segment, etc.) or not (bad weather generally leads to abandonment).
The case of Boeing with its Starliner is, however, relatively atypical. Indeed, this manned flight with two former NASA astronauts was originally planned for 2017. Since then, the American industrialist has encountered greater obstacles than expected. A failure at the end of 2019 of an unmanned mission with the Starliner also caused a big delay.
In addition to the specific setbacks that Boeing is encountering with Starliner, there are two aggravating factors: the incidents that the aircraft manufacturer encounters with its aircraft, which cast a dark veil over their reliability. Since 2019, the group has been going through a serious industrial crisis with the defects of the 737 Max, to the point of frightening passengers.
There is also the triumph of SpaceX, which was also commissioned by NASA to develop a manned transport solution to connect Earth and the ISS. If SpaceX was also delayed in its own program, the delivery of astronauts has now been assured since 2020 – offering Elon Musk the opportunity to criticize Boeing.
All of this is devastating for the brand image of a company which, Xavier Pasco, American space specialist, told us in 2022, is the “ symbol of triumphant America. If Boeing is doing badly, in terms of image, it is the United States that is doing badly too. » Across the Atlantic, Boeing is more than just a company; it is an institution.
A failure ” would be a huge blow to Boeing and the United States in generalhe added at the time. This would confirm the image of a company in difficulty which is multiplying its failures. And the United States would lose prestige. » The succession of bad news after the success of the 2022 unmanned flight shows that Boeing is not yet out of the woods.
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