--- title: "NASA Contractor Warns That Boeing Launch Must Be Stopped “Before Something Catastrophic Happens”" description: "A NASA contractor is urging the agency to suspend the upcoming Boeing Starliner launch over major safety concerns." date: "2024-05-09" modified: "2024-05-09" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-contractor-warns-boeing-valves" categories: - "Boeing" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "boeing" - "NASA" - "starliner" - "the digest" --- # NASA Contractor Warns That Boeing Launch Must Be Stopped “Before Something Catastrophic Happens” ![A NASA contractor is urging the agency to suspend the upcoming Boeing Starliner launch over major safety concerns.]() *\Image: Miguel J. Rodriguez Carillo / AFP via Getty\* ## Shut It Down A NASA contractor is urging the space agency to suspend the upcoming Boeing Starliner launch over major safety concerns with the aerospace company's wares. In a [press release](), the president of ValveTech, a NASA contractor that supplies the agency with parts, warned that the [buzzing sound]() heard during the now-scrubbed Starliner launch could indicate something seriously wrong with the transport capsule. "As a valued NASA partner and as valve experts, we strongly urge them not to attempt a second launch due to the risk of a disaster occurring on the launchpad," ValveTech president Erin Faville cautioned. "According to media reports, a buzzing sound indicating the leaking valve was noticed by someone walking by the Starliner minutes before launch. This sound could indicate that the valve has passed its lifecycle." After the incident, which occurred just before Starliner was supposed to attempt its first crewed launch earlier in May, [NASA has said]() that it won't try again until at least May 17. According to Faville, much needs to be be done between now and then to head off the worst possible outcomes. "NASA needs to re-double safety checks and re-examine safety protocols," he said, "to make sure the Starliner is safe before something catastrophic happens to the astronauts and to the people on the ground." ## Bad News Boeing The CEO of United Launch Alliance, which is launching the craft into orbit, pushed back strongly on X-formerly-Twitter. "Not sure what to say about this one," he [wrote](). "Close to none of it is correct: Not urgent. Not leaking. Etc. Remarkable that the particular person quoted doesn't seem to know how this type of valve works." ValveTech's warnings come not just after the scrubbed Starliner launch, but also after months of terrible press for Boeing that have included [parts falling off its planes](), [government investigations](), and [two dead whistleblowers](). As the company's press release notes, the launch scrub also occurred after a November 2023 ruling in which a [federal court found]() that Boeing had used a valve from another aerospace company, Aerojet Rocketdyne, that copied ValveTech's designs. The part was not, according to a witness in that trial, equipped for the job it was meant to do, and as far as the company can tell, it hasn't been replaced. "ValveTech continues to question how NASA, Boeing and Aerojet could have qualified this valve for the mission without proper supporting data or previous history or legacy information, which in its experience, goes against aerospace-industry qualification protocols established by NASA," the press release reads. All told, these are some pretty serious claims, and *Futurism* has reached out to NASA to ask if the parts in question have been replaced. **More on Starliner:** [*Commander of First Boeing Astronaut Launch Issues Warning*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()