Boeing Completes Starliner Pad Abort Test but 1 Parachute Fails to Deploy

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner test vehicle descends on only two parachutes after the third failed to deploy during the Nov. 4, 2019 Pad Abort Test for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Airbags then inflated as planned in preparation for landing in the New Mexico desert at White Sands. Credit: NASA TV

4 November 2019

Ken Kremer - - For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM 

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Boeing completed a critical test of the emergency abort system for the Starliner commercial crew capsule that was mostly successful – except for an unexplained anomaly that resulted in 1 of 3 main landing parachutes failing to deploy during the Pad Abort Test carried out on Monday, November 4  by firing off a test stand in White Sands New Mexico in support of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to ferry our astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

At this time both Boeing and NASA say the test was successful and furthermore that the parachute deployment failure will not delay Boeing’s next critical test flight – namely the planned Dec. 17 uncrewed launch of the Starliner crew vehicle.  But a full analysis of the outcome will be conducted to determine the root cause of the failure and any impact on the upcoming flight schedule. 

Read the entire story at Space UpClose:
https://www.spaceupclose.com/2019/11/boeing-completes-starliner-pad-abort-test-but-1-parachute-fails-to-deploy/