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WASHINGTON – Boeing Co. is at loggerheads with Aerojet Rocketdyne, a key supplier to its Starliner spacecraft, while the US aerospace giant is vying to test the launch of the unmanned astronaut capsule and repair its reputation in the space sector.
The CST-100 Starliner is scheduled to launch in Florida on May 19 on top of an Atlas 5 rocket to the International Space Station, with Boeing aiming to show NASA that the spacecraft is safe to transport astronauts to and from the orbital post. Software bugs interrupted a similar unmanned test flight in 2019.
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The mission is a crucial step in restoring Boeing as a viable rival to billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX, compounded by Boeing’s disagreement with Aerojet propulsion system provider, according to three people who requested anonymity.
Chicago-based Boeing and El Segundo, California-based Aerojet are at odds over the cause of a problem involving fuel valves in the Starliner propulsion system that delayed a test flight last July, with the two companies blaming each other, sources said.
The previously unreported dispute comes at a time when Boeing is already trying to emerge from a series of crises that are hampering its jet business and draining money.
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The dispute with Aerojet is the latest illustration of Boeing’s struggles with Starliner, a $ 595 million program worth 2019. Faced with fixed-price contracts with NASA that leave Boeing little room for financial manipulation, the company continued with the Starliner test.
In a statement from a Reuters spokesman, Boeing admitted for the first time that it ultimately intended to redesign Starliner’s valve system to prevent a recurrence of the problem that delayed last year’s test flight. A Boeing statement said it was “working on short-term and long-term changes to the design of the valves.”
Thirteen fuel valves, which are part of a propulsion system that helps steer the Starliner into space, were found stuck and unresponsive in the closed position, leading to a delay last year.
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Various technical failures pushed Starliner’s first manned flight into the unknown future, placing it far behind Musk’s SpaceX, whose Crew Dragon capsule, developed under the same NASA program as Starliner, has already flown with five astronaut crews to the US space agency. .
NASA hopes Boeing can provide additional options for transporting astronauts to the space station. NASA assigned three more missions to SpaceX in March to make up for Boeing’s delays.
A team of Boeing and NASA engineers generally agree that the cause of the clogged valves involves a chemical reaction between fuel, aluminum materials and the ingress of moisture from Starliner’s wet launch site in Florida.
Aerojet engineers and lawyers see it differently, blaming a cleaning chemical Boeing used in ground tests, two sources said.
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An Aerojet spokesman declined to comment.
‘MAIN REASON’
“Testing to determine the root cause of the valve problem has been completed,” Boeing said in a statement, and the work did not find the problems described by Aerojet.
NASA shares this view, Steve Stitch, who heads the Boeing and SpaceX crew programs for the space agency, told Reuters.
Boeing also said Aerojet had not met its contractual requirements to make the propulsion system stable enough to withstand the problems caused by chemical reactions.
Last week, Boeing returned the Starliner to the launch pad for the third time before the upcoming launch, replacing the drive system with a new one with a temporary adjustment that prevents moisture from penetrating the valve section.
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Boeing and NASA said they did not recreate any fully jammed valves during the nine months of testing, but instead measured the extent to which the valves struggled to open.
This approach was used to get Starliner back to the launch pad quickly, two sources said.
NASA, Boeing, Aerojet and independent safety advisers will meet this week to reach a final decision on the cause of the valve problems and decide whether the interim solution will work.
Boeing officials privately view Aerojet’s explanation for the faulty valves as an attempt to deflect responsibility for Starliner’s costly delays and avoid paying for a redesigned valve system, two sources said.
“It’s ridiculous,” said a man involved in a joint Boeing-NASA investigation into the value of Aerojet’s lawsuit, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential relations with suppliers. “Getting a valve manufacturer or actuator supplier to say ‘Yes, I fucked this up’… this will never happen.”
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After tests and software problems led to Starliner’s failure to board the space station in 2019, NASA officials admitted that they trusted Boeing too much when they decided to devote more engineering supervision to the newer SpaceX. than the aerospace giant.
The feud with Aerojet is not Boeing’s first quarrel with a Starliner subcontractor. In 2017, Starliner suffered an accident during a ground test that forced the president of a various subcontractor to amputate his leg medically. The subcontractor filed a lawsuit and Boeing subsequently settled the case.
(Report by Joey Roulette; edited by Will Dunham and Ben Clyman)
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