NASA and Boeing have once again been forced to cancel the first crewed launch of the company’s Starliner spacecraft.
NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams were scheduled to blast off aboard the Starliner from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday at 12:25 p.m. ET. The flight to the International Space Station would have been the vehicle’s first with a crew.
The launch attempt was canceled with just 3 minutes and 50 seconds left in the countdown – yet another setback for Boeing, which has already faced years of delays and budget overruns with its Starliner program.
Officials said they are targeting another launch opportunity on Sunday at 12:03 a.m. ET, but added that the flight could be delayed further if additional work on the launch pad is needed.
The Starliner crewed test flight is necessary for Boeing to show that the Starliner can safely transport astronauts to and from the space station. A successful mission could pave the way for NASA to authorize Boeing to make routine trips to the orbiting outpost, thus giving the agency a long-awaited second option for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.
The decision to cancel Saturday’s launch attempt was made after an automatic hold was triggered on a computer known as a ground launch sequencer, which controls rocket operations in the final minutes of a launch countdown. The computer is housed next to the rocket on the launch pad.
“These types of holds occur when a command is issued and the computer is unable to verify the proper response to a command,” said Dillon Rice, systems test engineer and launch conductor at United Launch Alliance. A joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, ULA manufactures the Atlas V rocket that the Starliner capsule launches into orbit.
Rice said it is not yet known what caused the hold.
Approximately two hours before liftoff, a separate issue was detected with the ground instrumentation used to top off propellant in the Atlas V rocket’s upper stage, but engineers were able to resolve this issue. Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, said it’s unclear at this time whether the two issues are related.
Mark Nappi, vice president and manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program, said the Starliner spacecraft performed “extremely well” during the countdown, despite the final stage abort.
“This is the business we’re in,” Nappi said Saturday at a post-swab press conference. “Everything has to work perfectly.”
In fact, launch suits are not uncommon in the world of human spaceflight. If the Starliner capsule does not launch on Sunday, there will be additional opportunities on June 5 and 6, according to NASA.
In an interview hours before Saturday’s launch was canceled, Sunita Williams’ mother, Bonnie Pandya, told NBC News that her daughter was in good spirits. “She is very optimistic. She is very happy to go,” said Pandya. “She loves.”
Boeing’s last launch attempt on May 6 was also canceled with about two hours left in the countdown after a problem with a valve was detected on the spacecraft’s Atlas V rocket. A separate helium leak was later discovered in the Starliner’s propulsion system, further delaying the main test flight.
The rocket’s valve had been replaced, mission controllers said at a news conference last week, but the helium leak was not repaired before Saturday’s scheduled flight because it was determined it was unlikely to pose a threat to the crew or spacecraft.
Both SpaceX and Boeing developed their spacecraft as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The initiative began more than a decade ago to support private companies in building new space vehicles to take astronauts to low-Earth orbit, following the agency’s overhaul of the space shuttles.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
