NASA auditors on Thursday warned that the space agency faces “significant safety and technical challenges” that need to be solved before astronauts fly in private capsules.
Boeing and SpaceX are several years late in transporting crews to the International Space Station, a report by the NASA Office of Inspector General said.
The private capsules likely will not be certified before next summer and NASA should set a realistic timetable to avoid compromising safety, it said.
NASA officials concurred with this and most of the other recommendations in the 53-page audit.
OVERPAID
The auditors also said that NASA overpaid Boeing US$287.2 million to keep the company moving forward.
Most of this overcharge was unnecessary, they said, a point with which NASA disagreed.
The report shows, on average, a seat on Boeing’s Starliner capsule would cost US$90 million, almost double the price of a ride on SpaceX’s crew Dragon, at US$55 million. That is based on a crew of four flying one or two times a year.
In case of further delays by Boeing and SpaceX, NASA is seeking to buy extra seats on Russian rockets next year and in 2021, another recommendation of the auditors.
NASA has been paying Russia to ferry astronauts to the space station since the shuttles stopped flying in 2011; the most recent price was about US$82 million a seat.
TEST LAUNCHES
SpaceX test-fired the launch escape engines on one of its capsules on Wednesday at Cape Canaveral, an apparent success.
The same test in April resulted in the destruction of the capsule.
Next up for SpaceX — possibly next month — is a test of the emergency escape system during an actual launch. That would be the last major flight hurdle for SpaceX before launching a pair of NASA astronauts to the space station sometime next year.
Boeing completed its launch abort test last week in New Mexico. Only two of the three parachutes deployed, but the empty capsule still landed safely.
Boeing aims to launch a Starliner — minus a crew — to the space station in the middle of next month.
SpaceX conducted a similar test flight in March.
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