Boeing suffers anomaly during Starliner test of launch abort engines in New Mexico

Boeing's spacecraft slated to take crews and cargo to and from the International Space Station under a NASA contract suffered an anomaly last month during a test in New Mexico, the aerospace giant has confirmed.

The CST-100 Starliner spacecraft's launch abort system, which is designed to rapidly propel the spacecraft away from a rocket in the event of an emergency, was put through its paces last month at the White Sands Test Facility and its engines fired for the full duration of the demonstration without issue – until shutdown.

"During engine shutdown an anomaly occurred that resulted in a propellant leak," Boeing said in a statement to FLORIDA TODAY. "We have been conducting a thorough investigation with assistance from our NASA and industry partners."

Teams, Boeing said, are confident that the cause of the anomaly has been isolated and fixes are underway, adding that no schedule updates would be released for the time being. It is unknown if the issue could impact the company's plans to launch an uncrewed version of Starliner on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral this year and launch a crewed version shortly thereafter as it works to certify the spacecraft for full-fledged ISS missions.

[SpaceX's Crew Dragon, taking a step closer to first flight, arrives at Cape Canaveral]

Testing the launch abort system is part of that certification process.

"Flight safety and risk mitigation are why we conduct such rigorous testing, and anomalies are a natural part of any test program," Boeing said.

SpaceX, also selected under NASA's $6.8 billion Commercial Crew contract, must also launch its Dragon spacecraft on an uncrewed demonstration mission with help from a Falcon 9 rocket before a second demonstration flight with a crew. The spacecraft itself arrived in Cape Canaveral earlier this month.

Both Boeing and SpaceX were targeting similar timelines for launching the uncrewed and crewed demonstration flights, but NASA is expected to announce more refined dates for those missions sometime in August. Only after those missions can the two companies proceed with consistent missions to the ISS.

The Space Coast's next launch, meanwhile, has been scheduled for the early morning hours of Saturday, Aug. 4. SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40 with the Telkom-4 commercial communications satellite and target a drone ship landing shortly after liftoff. Teams have between 12:34 a.m. and 3:34 a.m. to launch.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook at @EmreKelly.