WASHINGTON — NASA reports that Boeing is ready to test its Starliner space capsule again on March 25, after a previous test ended badly 13 months ago.
Reuters reported that Boeing narrowly missed a "catastrophic failure" during the crew capsule's previous flight test on 20 December 2019.
On that occasion the capsule was not manned and managed to land safely, after plans to dock with the ISS had to be aborted.
A panel later found that the failure was caused by problems with the spacecraft's automated timer, while unrelated software problems could have caused a more catastrophic failure.
Boeing is building the Starliner capsule for NASA, which has also subsidized SpaceX to build a competing capsule, called Crew Dragon.
The capsules are aimed at ending NASA's reliance on Russia's aging Soyuz capsules.
Boeing's upcoming March 25 test would pave the way for its first manned test mission, if successful, whereas SpaceX's Crew Dragon has already completed two manned test missions.