WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th November, 2019) The Starliner spacecraft will be ready to fly early next year following an unscrewed flight test scheduled for December 17, Boeing said in a press release, rejecting an audit by NASA's Inspector General claiming that safety and technical challenges threaten to delay human launches in the Commercial Crew Program for an additional year.
"Orbital Flight Test (OFT) is currently targeted for December 17, and following a successful flight, we are well positioned to fly our first crew in early 2020," the release said on Monday.
Boeing and SpaceX are developing spacecraft to launch astronauts into space for the first time from American soil since Space Shuttle program was terminated in 2011.
NASA's latest estimate is that neither the Boeing nor SpaceX spacecraft will be ready to launch humans until late summer. But last week, NASA's Inspector General released a scathing audit of both companies, claiming significant safety and technical challenges remain with parachutes, propulsion and launch abort systems that need to be resolved prior to receiving NASA authorization to transport crew.
"The complexity of these issues has already caused at least a 2-year delay in both contractors' development, testing and qualification schedules and may further delay certification of the launch vehicles by an additional year," the audit report said.
For the past eight years, NASA has purchased seats on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to reach and return from the International Space Station.
But the audit warned Russia plans to retire two Soyuz spacecraft. That development combined with an additional delay by Boeing and SpaceX threatens to force a reduction in the International Space Station's crew to just three - two Russians and one American - instead of the normal contingent of seven astronauts and cosmonauts.
Boeing also rejected the audit's claim that each seat for an astronaut will cost NASA $90 million, compared with the average Soyuz price of $55.4 million for 70 astronauts from 2011 until July 2019.
"For proprietary, competitive reasons Boeing does not disclose specific pricing information, but we are confident our average seat pricing to NASA is below the figure cited," Boeing said.
Boeing also rejected the audit claims that NASA had overpaid Boeing by nearly $300 million in unnecessary expenses, claiming that the amount had been settled through fair and open negotiations.
When Boeing tested the Starliner's launch abort safety system in November, one of three parachutes failed to open.
SpaceX successfully sent its Crew Dragon on an uncrewed Space Station resupply mission in March, but an explosion in a subsequent ground test destroyed the spacecraft, delaying the first human test.
