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National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Boeing
What is known
Six months ago, Starliner visited the Internationalspace station in unmanned mode. However, the flight was accompanied by a lot of problems. Experts have recorded abnormal operation of the Vision-based Electro-optical Sensor Tracking Assembly (VESTA) system, which is responsible for docking. Also in flight, a couple of engines turned off. In this regard, the test mission with people on board was postponed.
At the end of the summer, NASA and Boeing announced that the newFebruary 2023 was chosen as the date. Well, a couple of months later, the first manned flight of Starliner was again postponed to a later date. This time for April 2023.
Despite all the problems, NASA believes that the May flight was a success. The federal agency says work will begin next month to secure the spacecraft to the service module.
It should be noted that between the first and secondA year and a half has passed since Starliner unmanned flights to the International Space Station. The first spacecraft flew into space about three years ago, but missed orbit and returned to Earth. After that, Boeing spent a year and a half to eliminate dozens of comments from NASA. Meanwhile, overspending on the Starliner program is already approaching $1 billion.
Image: NASA Spaceflight