Brenda Marie Rivers
Boeing intends to assess its CST-100 Starliner capsule throughout the launch, docking, undocking and landing procedures following its shortened test flight to the International Space Station in December, SpaceNews reported Friday.
Boeing and NASA established a joint investigative team in January to identify errors that occurred during the uncrewed orbital flight test.
The independent review found that Starliner“™s planned docking on the ISS was postponed due to a misaligned timer that could have caused collisions between the crew and service modules.
John Mulholland, vice president and Starliner program manager at Boeing, said at a press briefing that the company is working on software audits to identify and correct errors during the planned two-day OFT.
“We know we need to improve, particularly with rebuilding trust with our customer, and we pledge our discipline and commitment to doing so,“ he noted. “We“™re going to apply additional rigor to systems engineering and software development.“
According to Mulholland, NASA is facilitating evaluations to decide whether Starliner“™s next flight will be crewed or uncrewed.
