Boeing delays launch of Starliner space capsule for at least 24 hours | Space news

The space capsule will transport a two-person crew to the International Space Station (ISS).

The launch countdown for Boeing’s new Starliner space capsule on its inaugural crewed test flight has been halted, postponing the mission for at least 24 hours.

The postponement was announced during a live NASA webcast on Saturday.

Previously, launch forecasts predicted a 90% probability of favorable weather conditions.

However, less than four minutes before liftoff, a ground system computer triggered an automatic abort command that paused the countdown, according to mission officials.

The reason for the strike is still unclear.

.@NASA, @BoeingSpace It is @ulalaunch (United Launch Alliance) took advantage of today’s launch opportunity due to the computer’s ground launch sequencer not loading into the correct operational configuration after proceeding to terminal count. The ULA team is working to understand the… pic.twitter.com/pKkS6cdxYO

— NASA Space Operations (@NASASpaceOps) June 1, 2024

The first trip of the CST-200 Starliner carrying two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, to the International Space Station (ISS) was highly anticipated and long delayed as Boeing fights to gain a larger share of the lucrative NASA business now dominated by Elon Musk. EspaçoX.

Mission commander Wilmore had already given a short but rousing speech, telling tens of thousands of people tuning in to the live broadcast that “It’s a great day to be proud of your nation.”

A May 6 countdown was also cut short just two hours before launch due to a faulty pressure valve on the Atlas upper stage, followed by weeks of additional delays caused by other, now resolved, engineering problems on the Starliner itself. .

A backup date is available for Sunday, but it is not yet known whether the spacecraft will be ready for launch.

Boeing’s first attempt to send an uncrewed Starliner to the space station in 2019 failed due to software and engineering flaws. But a second attempt in 2022 was successful, paving the way for efforts to launch the first manned test mission.

Boeing’s struggles

Boeing, whose commercial plane operations are in disarray after several sequential crises, urgently needs a victory in space for its Starliner venture, a program several years behind schedule with more than $1.5 billion in cost overruns.

While Boeing has struggled, SpaceX has become a reliable taxi to orbit for NASA, which is supporting a new generation of privately built spacecraft that could transport astronauts to the ISS and in the future – under its ambitious Artemis program – to the Moon and eventually to Mars. .

Starliner would compete head-to-head with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, which as of 2020 has been NASA’s only vehicle to send ISS crew members into orbit from American soil.

The flight would mark the first crewed trip to space using an Atlas rocket since the famous Atlas family of launch vehicles first sent astronauts, including John Glenn, on orbital flights for NASA’s Mercury program in the 1960s.

Once launched, the capsule is expected to arrive at the space station after a flight of about 26 hours and dock with the research outpost in orbit about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

Plans call for the two astronauts to remain on the space station for about a week before boarding the Starliner back to Earth for a parachute- and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern U.S. desert — a first for NASA’s crewed missions.

Depending on the outcome of the first crewed test flight, Starliner is scheduled to fly at least six more crewed missions to the space station for NASA.