Boeing launches NASA astronauts to space station for the first time

NASA and Boeing were forced to give up on a launch attempt for the International Space Station on Monday because of a last-minute problem that arose with a valve on the spacecraft’s rocket.

Boeing’s Starliner capsule was scheduled to lift off at 10:34 pm ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on its first crewed test flight. NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams were aboard the capsule and strapped into their seats when the launch attempt was canceled, about two hours before the planned liftoff.

A new release date has not yet been announced.

Mission controllers declared a launch “scrub” after an anomaly was detected in an oxygen valve on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, which the Starliner capsule was supposed to launch into orbit.

The Starliner’s crewed flight, when it occurs, will be a crucial final test before NASA can authorize Boeing to conduct routine flights to and from the space station.

NASA and Boeing officials said safety is paramount for the spacecraft’s first flight with humans on board.

The streamlined launch is yet another setback for Boeing, which has already faced years of delays and budget overruns with its Starliner program. It lagged significantly behind SpaceX, which has been flying crewed missions to and from NASA’s space station since 2020.

Both SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft were developed as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The initiative began more than a decade ago, after the agency’s space shuttle overhaul, to support private companies in building new space vehicles to take astronauts to low-Earth orbit.

Starliner’s first uncrewed flight in 2019 was thwarted by software problems, forcing mission controllers to stop the test before the vehicle could attempt to rendezvous and dock with the ISS. A second attempt was delayed several times due to problems with the fuel valves, and it was only in 2022 that Boeing was able to carry out a test. successful unscrewed flight to and from the space station.

This article was originally published in NBCNews. with