SpaceX and Boeing spacecraft will be ready later than planned.

Starliner, Dragon 2, Orion

A new report from NASA shows that the spacecraft for manned missions developed by SpaceX and Boeing will be ready for operation no earlier than 2020. Both companies are going about the same level in terms of creating their spacecraft, and the latter will go into space no earlier than two years later.

The agency partners in question are collaborating with NASA on the Commercial Crew Program . "Both partners are gradually moving forward in terms of creating their own transport systems, but delays for both companies are likely to lead to a backlog of aggressive work schedules," the report says.

The spacecraft being developed are the Dragon and Starliner. Now SpaceX and Boeing are actively developing and testing systems. In order for the terms of the contract to be fulfilled, any company must perform one flight of the ship in automatic mode and one - manned.
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NASA recently updated its work plan by publishing a modified schedule in January of this year . Under this plan, Boeing should launch its spacecraft into space in August 2018 - in the first stage without a crew. But the second flight should take place already with the team in November of this year. For SpaceX, automatic flight is also scheduled in August, and manned - in December. But the schedule, as far as can be judged, is too optimistic, NASA was quick to draw conclusions.

Each of NASA's partners in this “spacecraft race” has at least one difficult technical problem. For SpaceX, these are problems with a composite fuel tank — a crack in the wall of such a tank led to the Falcon 9 accident in 2016. The agency does not want to risk the project and wants to achieve maximum safety of launch vehicles for spacecraft.

The report says that NASA informed SpaceX about the inadmissibility of such problems. Representatives of the company responded that after the accident, the structure and design of the tanks were changed, so there are no problems now in this regard. However, SpaceX has to go through a full certification process in accordance with NASA standards. If there are no cracks, it can be considered a success.

As for Boeing, the company is working on Starliner quite actively, although it does not do without problems in this case as well. So, during testing, when passing emergency situations, the capsule went out of normal operation, there were failures. Now Boeing is trying to quickly get rid of these problems.

But NASA has other concerns about the Boeing capsule. For example, agency experts are not sure about the reliability of a protective heat shield, which prevents the effect of temperature on the parachutes at the time of entry into the atmosphere of the planet. According to representatives of the agency, this shield can damage the parachutes during their release. If a special NASA commission recognizes the risk is too high, Boeing will have to change the design of the parachute system, which means delaying the implementation of the program for at least six months.

There is a positive point. Since both contracts with partners are fixed, the agency will not have additional costs. Only the time of project implementation will stretch, but not the budget.

Under the terms of the contract with NASA, spacecraft must accommodate a crew of at least four people. Also in the compartments, according to NASA requirements, it should be possible to accommodate 100 kg of payload. The device must be able to remain docked to the station for 210 days in order to ensure the delivery of astronauts and astronauts to Earth, and, if necessary, to perform emergency evacuation of the team. NASA believes that working with new Boeing and SpaceX ships will increase the station’s crew by up to seven people. This will increase the amount of time that can be devoted to scientific research.

By the way, apart from the spacecraft themselves, both partners are developing and spacesuits for the team. Last year, Boeing introduced its version, which was called "Boeing Blue". Representatives of the American company claim that this spacesuit is 40% lighter than other models, and it is quite able to maintain the pressure and other parameters that a person needs if depressurization occurs. In a spacesuit, you can sit down and stand up, his mittens are great for working with a touch-screen electronic devices. A helmet allows you to use and peripheral vision of astronauts. The presentation was held at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Space Center (eng. John F. Kennedy Space Center).