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Boeing Starliner Pad Abort Test Completed Despite Parachute Failure

By Keith Cowing
November 4, 2019
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Boeing Starliner Pad Abort Test Completed Despite Parachute Failure
Starliner Descends on Two Of Three Parachutes
NASA TV

The pad abort test of Boeing Starliner was technically a success today. The system quickly removed the capsule from the danger zone and landed exactly as planned but one of the three mian parachutes did not deploy.
The NASA and Boeing TV announcers repeatedly commented that 2 deployed parachutes are within the safety requirements of the system, that this is all about redundancy, and that a safe landing could have happened with one parachute. But one of the three main parachutes failed to deploy.

Given previous parachute problems, it is possible that additional testing will be required before Starliner who can be launched.

Boeing was originally not planning to do a live broadcast of this test until NASA Administrator Bridenstine told them that they were going to do it.

SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.