The Starliner capsule was scheduled to launch Tuesday at
1:20pm EDT (17:20 GMT) on a crucial demonstration mission bound for the
International Space Station (ISS), following a three-day delay due to an
anomaly on the space station. However, the launch attempt was delayed Tuesday
morning after teams discovered an issue with the spacecraft, pushing back by at
least a day, a key test it last attempted in 2019.
The spaceship had been due to launch on an United Launch
Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida
early in the afternoon.
But just over two hours before lift-off, the company tweeted
it was scrubbing the flight.
A statement by NASA said the test was canceled not because
of inclement weather but "due to unexpected valve position indications in
the Starliner propulsion system."
The next available launch opportunity is at 12:57 pm Eastern
time (1657 GMT) on Wednesday, pending resolution of the problem.
"We're disappointed with today's outcome and the need
to reschedule our Starliner launch," said John Vollmer, vice president and
program manager of Boeing's commercial crew program.
"Boeing and NASA teams will take the time they need to
ensure the safety and integrity of the spacecraft and the achievement of our
mission objectives."
The test flight was supposed to take place Friday but had to
be rescheduled after a new Russian science module inadvertently fired its
thrusters following docking with the ISS, pushing the orbital outpost off
kilter.
After NASA ended the Space Shuttle program in 2011, it gave
both Boeing and SpaceX multi-billion dollar contracts to provide its astronauts
with taxi services to the space station and end US reliance on Russian rockets
for the journey.
SpaceX's program has moved forward faster, having now
undertaken three crewed missions.
Boeing's program is lagging behind, and needs to complete a
successful uncrewed mission before it can carry astronauts.
During an initial uncrewed test flight in December 2019, the
Starliner capsule experienced software glitches that caused problems with the
way it fired its thrusters.
As a result, Starliner did not have enough fuel to reach the
ISS and had to return to Earth prematurely, and a subsequent investigation
showed it almost experienced a dire flight anomaly while reentering the
atmosphere.
NASA later called the mission a "high visibility close
call," a rare designation reserved for near-catastrophes.
Steve Stich, manager of NASA's commercial crew program, told
reporters last week he had confidence this time around.
"We want it to go well, we expect it to go well, and
we've done all the preparations we can possibly do," he said.
"Starliner is a great vehicle, but we know how hard it
is, and it's a test flight as well and I fully expect we'll learn something on
this test flight."
When it flies, the spacecraft will carry more than 400
pounds (180 kilograms) of cargo and crew supplies to the ISS and will return
more than 550 pounds of cargo, including air tanks, when it lands in the
western US desert at the end of its mission.
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