Crew – COOPER GENERAL NEWS

Boeing’s Starliner capsule sits on the launch pad prior to the launch of the OFT-2 mission on an Atlas V rocket.

United Launch Alliance

Boeing’s second unmanned flight test of its Starliner spacecraft has been delayed by at least two months due to problems with the capsule’s drive valves, the company said on Friday.

The latest mission – called Orbital Flight Test 2 or OFT-2 – was previously targeted for December 2020, but Boeing delayed the launch several times, with August 3 being the most recent target. During preparations on launch day, Boeing discovered that 13 valves on the spacecraft’s propulsion system were not opening, causing the company to delay launch.

While the company’s engineers restored functionality to nine of the 13 valves over the past week and a half, Boeing Vice President John Vollmer said the team had “exhausted all possible options” to fix Starliner while the capsule was on the rocket – which required a return to the company’s processing facility for further investigation.

According to Vollmer, Boeing is working with Aerojet Rocketdyne, the manufacturer of the valves, to identify the exact cause of the problems and analyze possible preventive measures or new designs.

The extra work means Boeing won’t have an opportunity to launch OFT-2 this month, NASA Commercial Crew program manager Steve Stich told reporters, and is “definitely on the other hand” delaying an agency mission scheduled for mid-October.

The OFT-2 delay announcement comes about 19 months after Boeing’s first flight test went wrong.

OFT-2 represents a repetition of Boeing’s first unmanned flight test in December 2019. This first Starliner mission was canceled when, after a successful launch, the spacecraft’s flight control system misfired and the capsule did not reach the International Space Station as planned. While Boeing was able to test many parts of the Starliner during the shortened flight, NASA declared the flight test a “tight call” and said the spacecraft could have been lost twice during the mission.

The company made dozens of changes, along with NASA, according to an investigation. In addition, Boeing is assuming the cost of OFT-2 after allocating $ 410 million shortly after the initial flight test. Vollmer said Friday he wasn’t sure how much the delay and extra work will cost Boeing.

Competing with SpaceX

Boeing developed Starliner as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, which the space agency began in 2010 when the space shuttle retired. The aim of the program was to encourage private sector companies to develop the most cost-effective, innovative and safest way to get astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

The program was structured as a multi-stage competition in which companies competed for NASA contracts to build space transportation systems under certain parameters set by the agency. NASA eventually awarded the contracts to SpaceX and Boeing, with the latter aerospace entrepreneur receiving nearly $ 5 billion to develop the Starliner.

Built to carry up to five people to the International Space Station, Starliner launches on an Atlas V rocket – built and operated by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

SpaceX and Boeing have been building and testing their crew transport systems for almost a decade. However, SpaceX’s successful launch of astronauts in May 2020 was an important milestone for the company as Boeing had to catch up. SpaceX’s launch marked the first time NASA astronauts took off from US soil since 2011 and the first time a commercially built spacecraft carried NASA astronauts.

Since then, SpaceX has flown two astronaut missions for NASA with its Crew Dragon capsules and safely transported a total of 10 people into space. Elon Musk’s company has two more crew launches planned for this fall, with the private Inspiration4 mission and the Crew 3 mission for NASA.

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SEOUL, South Korea – Iran has agreed to rescue the 19-strong crew from a confiscated ship flying the South Korean flag, both countries announced on Tuesday. This appeared to be the first significant gesture by the Iranians, which de-escalated the problem since the ship was seized a month ago.

The Iranian move may also have been intended to send an indirect signal to the Biden administration, suggesting that it should avoid further deterioration in relations with Iran after it deteriorated sharply under former President Donald J. Trump to have.

In return for releasing the occupation, the South Korean government said it had pledged swift action to address Iran’s complaints about its inability to access $ 7 billion in Iranian funds due to US sanctions reimposed by Mr Trump were frozen to fix.

It was not immediately apparent from the announcement when the crew members would be released. Iran said the ship and its captain would remain in custody pending an investigation into the reasons for the ship’s seizure, cited by Iranians as violating the Maritime Pollution Act.

The ship, the Hankuk Chemi, loaded with 7,200 tons of chemicals, was taken into custody by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on January 4 while on patrol in the Persian Gulf. South Korea strongly protested the seizure and the shipowner called Iran’s allegations absurd.

It soon became clear that Iran had at least partially taken into custody of the ship in an attempt to pressure South Korea, a strong American ally, over the sanctions ordered by Mr Trump after breaking on the nuclear deal between Iran and the major world powers 2015 had waived. These sanctions included blocking Iran’s access to Iranian oil revenues in the billions that were deposited with foreign banks.

Iran began disregarding its nuclear deal obligations in response to Mr Trump’s actions and threatened further steps that may include blocking international nuclear inspectors from visiting nuclear sites.

While President Biden has said he wants to rejoin the nuclear deal if Iran resumes compliance, Iran has said the United States should drop sanctions first. Neither side has publicly shown an immediate readiness to find a diplomatic solution.

Iran’s approval of the liberation of the South Korean ship’s crew, which Saeed Khatibzadeh, a State Department spokesman, described as a humanitarian gesture, however, appeared to offer a degree of flexibility on sanction-related issues.

“This could be a signal to show a willingness to resume discussions or at least ease tension and perhaps open the door to South Korea to release seized Iranian assets,” said Farhad Alavi, partner at Akrivis Law Group. a Washington-based company specializing in sanctions law.

“Likewise, I wouldn’t be surprised if President Biden were to lift or suspend less sensitive or perhaps more political sanctions from the Trump era in the coming weeks or months – something more symbolic than essential,” said Alavi.

There was no immediate comment from the Biden administration on the news about the South Korean crew members.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the decision to free the crew members was taken during a telephone conversation on Tuesday between Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and his South Korean counterpart Choi Jong-kun.

The crew consists of four South Koreans, and the other members are Burmese, Vietnamese and Indonesians, the statement said.

Mr. Choi welcomed the Iranian decision and called on the Iranian government to release the captain and ship as well.

During his telephone conversation with Mr. Araghchi, Mr. Choi promised “swift” action to deal with Iran’s complaints about the $ 7 billion confiscated.

Mr. Choi also told Mr. Araghchi that South Korea would consult American officials in Washington on the matter, the department said.

Choe Sang-hun reported from Seoul and Farnaz Fassihi from New York. Rick Gladstone reported from Eastham, Mass.