A contractor for Nasa urged the space agency to conduct more safety checks before the highly-anticipated first launch of its Starliner rocket – which is set to take off as soon as next week – "before something catastrophic happens".
ValveTech, a contractor that supplies Nasa with valve components for the Starliner aircraft, warned against the imminent launch on 17 May.
The last launch, slated for 6 May, was scrubbed two hours before takeoff due to a valve issue.
The Starliner is designed to transport people to and from the International Space Station as well as other low-Earth-orbit destinations.
"As a valued Nasa partner and as valve experts, we strongly urge them not to attempt a second launch due to the risk of a disaster occurring on the launchpad," ValveTech president Erin Faville said in a press release.
"According to media reports, a buzzing sound indicating the leaking valve was noticed by someone walking by the Starliner minutes before launch. This sound could indicate that the valve has passed its lifecycle," Ms Faville wrote.
She urged Nasa to "re-double safety checks and re-examine safety protocols to make sure the Starliner is safe before something catastrophic happens to the astronauts and to the people on the ground," Ms Faville added.
This is the latest bout of bad news for Boeing, which has made repeated headlines recently over its aircraft defects.
The contractor then turned to a separate issue, brought up in a federal court November 2023 decision. The court found that Boeing had used a valve from another contractor, Aerojet Rocketdyne, which "breached multiple non-disclosure agreements" when it took from ValveTech's designs and technology.
A witness at the trial warned that the Aerojet valve was "not qualified to the right specifications and not evaluated to ensure safety protocols," the press release states.
So, the press release continued, ValveTech "continues to question how Nasa, Boeing and Aerojet could have qualified this valve for the mission without proper supporting data or previous history or legacy information", which "goes against aerospace-industry qualification protocols established by Nasa".
美國國家航空航天局的一家承包商敦促該航天局在備受期待的Starliner火箭首次發射之前，“在災難性事件發生之前” 進行更多的安全檢查，該火箭定於下週起飛。
爲美國國家航空航天局提供Starliner飛機氣門部件的承包商ValveTech警告說，即將於5月17日發射。
由於氣門問題，原定於5月6日進行的最後一次發射在起飛前兩小時被取消了。
Starliner旨在運送人們往返國際空間站以及其他低地軌道目的地。
ValveTech總裁艾琳·法維爾在一份新聞稿中說：“作爲美國國家航空航天局的重要合作伙伴和閥門專家，我們強烈敦促他們不要嘗試第二次發射，因爲發射臺有可能發生災難。”
“據媒體報道，在發射前幾分鐘，有人在Starliner旁行走，注意到了表明閥門漏水的嗡嗡聲。這種聲音可能表明閥門已經過了其生命週期，” 法維爾女士寫道。
法維爾補充說，她敦促美國國家航空航天局 “加倍安全檢查並重新審查安全協議，以確保Starliner在宇航員和地面人員發生災難性事件之前是安全的。”
對於波音來說，這是最新一輪壞消息，波音最近因飛機缺陷一再成爲頭條新聞。
然後，承包商轉向了另一個問題，該問題在聯邦法院2023年11月的裁決中提出。法院認定，波音使用了另一家承包商Aerojet Rocketdyne的閥門，該公司在從ValveTech的設計和技術中奪走時 “違反了多項保密協議”。
新聞稿指出，審判中的一名目擊者警告說，Aerojet閥門 “不符合正確的規格，也沒有進行評估以確保安全協議”。
因此，新聞稿繼續說，ValveTech “繼續質疑美國國家航空航天局、波音和Aerojet如何在沒有適當的支持數據或以前的歷史或遺留信息的情況下使該閥門有資格執行任務”，這 “違背了美國國家航空航天局制定的航空航天行業認證協議”。
