Boeing Pad Abort Test: Nov. 4, 2019 at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Thank you to Boeing. At my request, Monday's [Nov. 4] commercial crew Starliner pad abort test will be broadcast live. Transparency for the taxpayer.

We join you in your enthusiasm to share this Starliner test with the world live. Targeting a T-0 of 7 a.m. MT with a three-hour test window on Monday, Nov. 4. Tune into NASA TV

Anyone know the story?

If you look closely at the Starliner Pad Abort spacecraft, you see the signatures of the employees who have dedicated thousands of hours to making it reality. Well wishes, famous quotes, hopes, dreams, even family members' names - they've all given so much to make it happen.

As Chris Ferguson said after the test:

I had this trajectory of what this pad abort would look like for a long time and to actually see it happen was just fantastic. And it worked pretty much as I had always envisioned.

Tests like this one are crucial to help us make sure the systems are as safe as possible. We are thrilled with the preliminary results, and now we have the job of really digging into the data and analyzing whether everything worked as we expected.

Today's pad abort test was a milestone achievement for our CST-100 Starliner team, for NASA, and for American human spaceflight. We will review the data to determine how all the systems performed, including the parachute deployment sequence.

We did have a deployment anomaly, not a parachute failure. It's too early to determine why all three main parachutes did not deploy, however, having two of three deploy successfully is acceptable for the test parameters and crew safety.

At this time, we don't expect any impact to our scheduled Dec. 17 Orbital Flight Test. Going forward we will do everything needed to ensure safe orbital flights with crew.

Chris Ferguson shared a little more in an interview with Spaceflight Now:

"Some of the folks who have the opportunity to go back and review it say that the pilot chute did come out, but then we don't know what happened after that," Ferguson told Spaceflight Now. "The pilot chute is designed to pull the main chute out, and we confirmed that the pilot chute came out, which means that the mortar that fires the pilot chute functioned properly, but what happened beyond that, it's too early to speculate."

The conclusion was reached based on close-out photos and inspection of the post-test hardware. The issue was not detected because a protective abbrasion sheath prevented view of the connecting lines.

Boeing plans to take additional steps to mitigate this problem, including pull tests and additional inspections going forward. For the immediate future, engineers are now verifying that the linkages between all of the parachutes are secure on the Orbital Flight Test vehicle.

Go behind the scenes during Starliner's first flight that successfully put the Pad Abort system to the test. Watch the entire flight in real time with our photographer at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, as Starliner's launch abort engines ignite, propelling the vehicle roughly a mile up (approx. 1.6 km) and a mile away from the test stand in just about 90 seconds.

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
"a lack of secure connection between the pilot chute and the main chute."

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Connecting the pilot chute to the main chute is a fundamental step that any technician or rigger who works on parachutes, ejection seats, or even brake chutes have trained for. There are steps and inspections that cross-check these things carried out by others and certified within the associated documentation. In the aviation/aerospace industry, such practices are second nature, designed to catch such oversights. and something that is generally thought to be inexcusable to overlook.