Boeing and NASA have been forced to cancel the first crewed launch of the company’s Starliner spacecraft once again, with just minutes left until liftoff.
The Starliner, with NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams on board, was scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday afternoon, but was told to wait with 3 minutes and 50 seconds remaining in the countdown.
The reason for the latest delay was not immediately provided.
The original Starliner mission was scheduled for May 6, but was canceled due to a valve problem, delaying the historic liftoff. On May 14, the mission was delayed again, this time due to a propellant leak and additional testing.
If completed, the Starline test flight would bring Boeing one step closer to having regular flights to and from the International Space Station.
Launch delays are another obstacle for the company, which aims to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, both companies that received approval for commercial space flights in 2014.
Boeing already has new dates scheduled, including Sunday at 12:03 pm EDT or a later date depending on the cause of the latest cleaning, CNBC reported.
The series of questions puts the spotlight back on Boeing, which has come under heavy criticism this year after flight accidents, including a mid-air explosion, prompted investigations into the company’s safety.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
