Boeing tests space taxi, one of three parachutes fails to deploy

Boeing Co said on Monday that one of three parachutes failed to deploy during an otherwise successful safety test of its unmanned CST-100 Starliner crew capsule, being developed to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

The deployment failure happened during a so-called pad abort test of a system designed to propel the crew to safety in the event of an emergency, Boeing spokesman Todd Blecher said by email.

“It’s too early to determine why all three main parachutes did not deploy,” Blecher said. “However, having two of three deploy successfully is acceptable for the test parameters and crew safety.” Blecher said overall the test on Monday morning was successful.