SpaceX Crew-1 will depart on November 14 due to an engine change
Source: HW Upgrade added 02nd Nov 2020
The SpaceX Crew-1 mission is scheduled time for 14 November 2020 after the replacement of two Merlin engines of the first stage of the Falcon 9 for safety reasons related to the production phases (discovered with another mission).
by Mattia Speroni published 02 November 2020 , at 08: 41 in the Science and Technology channel
SpaceX NASA
Already in mid-October there was a announcement of the postponement of the launch of the mission SpaceX Crew-1 (the first with the new Crew Dragon that was not a test as for Demo-2). The new date has been set for 14 November 2020 and now you have more information on the reason for the program change by NASA and SpaceX .
An engine problem causing the postponement of SpaceX Crew-1
The reason for the change of date lies in the need to change the engines of the Falcon 9 which were supposed to take SpaceX Crew-1 in the direction of the ISS. The first hint that something was not going as planned, however, came with an unmanned mission.
It was the mission for the launch of the GPS satellite on behalf of the Space Force set for 2 October 2020. The launch was canceled (automatically) a few seconds after take-off due to some anomalous values reported.
Analyzing the data and the rocket it was understood that a lot of the engines used on the Falcon 9 rockets could have a construction flaw. Obviously, considering that safety comes first, there has been a review of all rockets engaged in upcoming launches, including that of Crew-1 and that of Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich.
A paint problem
The problem with the Merlin engines is related to the paint used to cover some parts before anodizing to avoid corrosion. Residues not correctly removed by the manufacturer have come off, blocking the 1.6 mm holes to vent the Merlin valves.
The problem, as highlighted below, was not however only on the first stage of the Space Force mission but also on two engines of the SpaceX Crew-1 . The inspections to find the engines affected by the problem and their replacement resulted in the postponement of the various launches.
A senior executive of SpaceX (Koenigsmann) said he was satisfied with how things turned out. In fact it was a way to confirm that the safety systems of the Falcon 9 rockets are working properly.
Steve Stich (Head of the Commercial Crew Program) said “We worked jointly with SpaceX to resolve this engine anomaly. We still have some work to do, but the path to launch seems quite good”.