(Reuters) - Boeing narrowly missed a "catastrophic failure" during its December flight test of an unmanned space taxi that was cut short by an unrelated problem, a NASA safety review panel said Thursday, recommending that the agency examine Boeing's software verification process before letting it fly humans to space. The newly revealed software bug, which Boeing said was fixed while the CST-100 Starliner was still in orbit, could have "led to erroneous thruster firings" that could have resulted in "a catastrophic spacecraft failure," panel member Paul Hill said. Boeing and NASA officials had zeroed in on an unrelated glitch, with the spacecraft's automated timer, hours after the spacecraft failed to reach its intended orbit 30 minutes into flight. The timer malfunction forced the craft to scrub its rendezvous with the International Space Station, and the Starliner returned to Earth a week early. NASA still must decide whether to make Boeing repeat the unmanned docking test before spacecraft can carry astronauts.

Source: International New York Times February 07, 2020 01:52 UTC