NASA, Boeing Knew of Helium Leaks Before Starliner Launched as Astronauts Remain Stuck on ISS
fficials thought it barely posed a safety risk. But then the Starliner developed four more helium leaks and “one thruster deemed unstable.”
NASA delayed the return of two Boeing Starliner astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) due to helium leaks and thruster malfunctions.
To make matters worse, NASA and Boeing knew about the helium leak before the Starliner launched. Officials thought it barely posed a safety risk.
But then the Starliner developed four more helium leaks and “one thruster deemed unstable.”
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams likely won’t come home until July 2.
Boeing is not having a good year:
The company is already under fire after high-profile malfunctions of its planes over the past year, with at least 20 whistleblowers coming forward to voice concerns about safety and quality issues at the aerospace giant.
Wilmore and Williams were supposed to come back home June 13 after a week on the ISS, but their return date remains up in the air as engineers continue to analyze and test the helium leaks and thruster failures on the Starliner, NASA said.
“We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said in a statement.
“We are letting the data drive our decision-making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking,” he added.
Space expert Jonathan McDowell told NewsNation: “You can lose a few thrusters and still be OK because there are many of them but still this is the propulsion system and you want to understand everything that’`’s going on. They want to be sure these smaller issues aren’t masking bigger ones.”
Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said in a statement that MASA is taking our time and following our standard mission management team process.”
“We are letting the data drive our decision-making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking,” Stich added.
Former astronaut Leroy Chiao called the entire statement “perplexing.”
“That raises more questions than it answers,” Chiao said to NewsNation. “Did you miss some data before? Are there new data to look at? And why is it (the postponement) ‘indefinite?’ NASA is kinda doing itself a disservice by not disclosing more about what’s going on.”
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It’s interesting that they’re using helium for the RCS cold gas thrusters. I think the Space Shuttle used nitrogen thrusters and I believe the ISS does as well. Space X also used nitrogen for their earlier flights. Not sure if they still are though. He is obviously lighter than N. But, it’s more complicated to manage…as they’re apparently learning in real time.
Didn’t the Apollo ones use helium though? I seem to recall that they used some kind of hydrazine fuel that was fed with helium.
IDK.
Yes, hydrazine…. remember when a returning Apollo repressurized the craft early and the hydrazine was pulled into the capsule and injured the astronauts’ lungs?
Time for SpaceX to rescue the NASA/Boeing crew…… this is getting embarrassing…. at least the Russians don’t have to save the day…again.
NASA is still letting Boeing make things?
(Sulu voice): Oh… my…!
What happened to NASA? Too many bureaucrats, too many affirmative hires? Probably both.
Somebody at NASA is going to get canned… probably the guy who deprived both these astronauts of all of Pride Month.
IDK. all space travel has risks and it seems to me that they took a look before liftoff and determined the risk was within tolerance levels. I think from reading the story that the ship could safely get back now but everyone is being very cautious.
Now they delayed a space walk because the spacesuit has a helium leak too. Did Boeing make those too?
Boeing or NASA. Take your pick.
BOEING:
1. A filing appeared to show the aeronautical giant two years ago began using diversity, equity and inclusion goals as incentives…after previously focusing solely on safety and quality controls.
2. Elon Musk asks: “Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety?
NASA
1. Vision: We believe in a diverse and inclusive workforce…
2. Mission: Cultivate and enable NASA’s diverse workforce through transformative leadership…
3. Diversity and Inclusion: Diversity and inclusion are integral to mission success at NASA.
DEI is just DIE from a different angle.
Let’s not forget that neocon idol Senator John McCain went damn near berserk when the Air Force included the Airbus as one half the bid for next generation refueling platforms. Heavens to Betsy good golly no, can’t have a competitor to Boeing win a bid and foreign one at that…. all the while under playing the fact that these Aircraft were being built in Mobile Alabama. Sorta of the same way that certain politicians refer to Detroit or Michigan Midwest, UAW and ‘big 3’ as the ‘ US auto industry’ while ignoring the tens of thousands of damn good paying, largely non union jobs in the South East; Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, VW and of course they revile Tesla since Musk returned Twitter to a free speech platform instead of the carefully curated content of the uniparty.
Have to wonder if the major woes that Toyota is dealing with are sabotage on a large scale. 100K+ engine recalls, transmission issues …..
Plus Lexus brand as well. IMO Toyota/Lexus recall is probably a wider net than really needed but from a brand perspective of ‘hey, the engine we sold you might be effed up so we gonna take care of it’ seems like a good play from a long-term view. Most people still forgive errors when the party responsible admits fault, accepts responsibility and makes a genuine, good faith effort to correct it and make the injured party whole financially.
Deliberate sabotage? Maybe. Did UAW lose a vote for unionization? Or maybe its the employee churn from Covid retirements and walk aways finally revealing itself. The supply chain for automakers is like a plate of spaghetti. There ain’t one factory that ‘builds’ a vehicle. Assemble them? Sure but the parts come from all over the place. As do the sub components of those ‘parts’. Lots of suppliers and sub contractors.
Lot’s of reasons he was known by many as ‘McStain’
Can SpaceX send a Dragon up to get them?
Yes. A flight is planned in August. If they have not left the ISS yet, I believe the plan is to come home on the Dragon.
Hopefully they’ll be able to make it back without a rescue. I believe starliner has 28 thrusters so 4-5 malfunctioning devices shouldn’t be a deal breaker. Every space craft sent up has had issues that needed to be worked through, regardless of the manufacturer.
This is the stuff of “decline of empire.” If you go back to the 80s/90s, I believe sales by Boeing comprised more than 5% of all US exports. It was a great company.
But the contra argument is SpaceX. No decline there.
SpaceX is still in the ‘innovation” phase. Boeing is now firmly in the “make money” phase.
Boeing got reverse-acquired when they “bought” McDonnell Douglas. Even The Atlantic’s take on this is pretty good.
But look at how diverse they are! And Muslim outreach, too.
Boeing, Boeing, Gone.
I like the Jackie Gleason thruster: One of these days, Alice, straight to the moon!
Helium leaks were always responsible for why your helium balloon was on the floor the next morning. Balloons don’t seal helium.
Helium atoms are the second smallest (next to hydrogen) and it doesn’t form molecules (its “monatomic,” so its atoms don’t agglomerate into larger molecules that might be easier to contain).
I agree with most of the article and the comments about Boeing and NASA’s handling of this but the title of the article seems implies to me that it is news that NASA and Boeing knew about the Helium leaks before launch. The topic was widely discussed before the launch and the risk assessments/triaging of issues before a launch is not uncommon. The big development since launch is that there are other issues and more leaks.
I suspect they have already made the decision to take a Dragon capsule home. Given they know there are issues the risk to the program if a return trip with crew onboard failed would be catastrophic.
If they send the craft home autonomously and it fails they get all the data and the crew comes home safely; SpaceX has already established that flights don’t have to succeed to be successful.
If it succeeds Boeing gets to claim NASA was being overly cautious and the program barely loses a step.
Either wayNASA gets to highlight the cooperation between the companies and NASA’s good stewardship.
Just as the French’s good stewardship of France during WWII was instrumental in their saving the day (along with all the good relations they cultivated with the US and UK).
Let’s see. Challenger…NASA warned that the O ring on the solid rocket boosters aren’t pliable below 40 degrees. They authorize launch and seven dead astronauts. NASA has film from the launch of Columbia that shows large ice block from reformulated styrofoam insulation came off at launch and hit underside of wing. Never said anything to crew or public. Another 7 dead astronauts. 1970 “Houston we have a problem”. NASA and the whole astronaut community work the problem and 3 astronauts live. Hmmmm… NASA might want to cut the Starliner loose without the astronauts and see if they can get it back to splash down. Meantime, get SpaceX to get the crew back to earth safely. Maybe it’s time to sunset NASA.
FJB
Yeah. I have a bad feeling about this.
Conway’s Law — the architecture of a software system reflects the structure of the organization that produced it.
Conway’s Law in reality works more broadly. The coordination n communication among system elements reflects the organization’s coordination and communication. The architecture approach reflects that organization’s culture n biases. The way the thing behaves reflects how the organization behaves: what’s important, what gets attention, and so on.
The shuttle program, then Challenger, now the Starliner program, and machine, all reflect the culture of NASA post-Apollo, which never got fixed.
I think a previous comment was correct. They have already decided to send the people back in August and are just waiting for that before letting the ship come on it’s own. It appears to be safe enough as a last ditch back up
What ever happened to NASA zero defect management protocols?
DEI hires again?
They were dropped when DEI became the priority. Doing things right with zero defects is hard.
Subotai Bahadur
DEI is a disaster that progressive fascists imposed on our society . It produces incompetence where competence is required. Doctors and Engineers can’t be incompetent.
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