SpaceX and Boeing Facing Questions On Flight Safety
SpaceX and Boeing are hoping to submit their commercial manned space crafts for test flights later this year. However, both companies are facing major challenges obtaining certification from NASA due to the space agency's stringent flight safety requirements.
NASA reportedly wants the new spacecraft to have only one chance in 500 of losing a crew during ascent and entry. The agency also requires an overall 1-in-200 chance of fatalities due to a spacecraft issue during a 210-day mission to the station.
"The panel has been monitoring the providers' progress in working toward the LOC (loss of crew) requirements, and it appears that neither provider will achieve 1-in-500 for ascent/entry and will be challenged to meet the overall mission requirement of 1-in-200," Patricia Sanders, chairman of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel told lawmakers last Wednesday.
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Both companies are hoping to get their spacecraft certified by NASA before late 2019 when seats aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft will become less easily available for American space station crews. Since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, NASA has relied on the Soyuz carry astronauts to and from the space station which costs $80 million a seat under the most recent contract.
Boeing won a $4.2 billion contract to develop the CST-100 Starliner capsule while SpaceX won a separate $2.6 billion for its Dragon spacecraft. Both companies have promised to undergo testing last year but shortfalls in Congress and unresolved hazards caused delays.
Spokespersons from both companies have yet to issue a comment regarding Sanders's recent report to Congress. However, SpaceX did issue a statement regarding its most recent delay saying that its Falcon 9 rocket in conjunction with the Dragon capsule is "one of the safest and most advanced human spaceflight systems ever built."
NASA hopes to certify both capsules by next year – way beyond schedule. However, the agency also secured Soyuz seats well into 2019 in the event that neither capsules can pass their requirements.
