OREANDA-NEWS. One of the three parachutes did not open during testing the emergency rescue system of the Starliner manned spacecraft, on which National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

The test took place at the proving ground White Sands, the state of New Mexico, USA.

During the broadcast of the test on the NASA website, it was clear that the Starliner returning device, after the emergency rescue system was triggered, descended to the earth’s surface with two parachutes, although three parachutes were demonstrated in the animation before the test.

“Although designed with three parachutes, two opening successfully is acceptable for the test parameters and crew safety. After one minute, the heat shield was released and airbags inflated, and the Starliner eased to the ground beneath its parachutes,” the NASA press release says.

In 2011, the American Space Shuttle reusable manned transport system was decommissioned. After that, only Russian Soyuz spacecraft delivered crews to the ISS.

In the United States, new manned spacecraft were developed to send astronauts to the station: Crew Dragon by SpaceX, and Starliner by Boeing.

The launch of the first Starliner spacecraft to the ISS without a crew is scheduled for December 17, 2019, with a crew in the first half of 2020. The first Starliner crew includes NASA astronauts Edward Michael Fincke and Nicole Aunapu Mann, as well as Boeing representative Christopher Ferguson.

Starliner ships will fly from the launch site at Cape Canaveral with the help of the Atlas-5 launch vehicle. The first stage of Atlas-5 uses the Russian engine RD-180.