The long-awaited first manned mission of the spacecraft Starliner from the Boeing will be delayed for more than a week after engineers identified a problem that interrupted launch preparations this Monday (6).
The Starliner’s next opportunity to take off on its maiden voyage from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is scheduled for 6:16 p.m. (East Coast local time) of the day may 17. Veteran NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were already aboard the Starliner capsule when the operations team canceled the event, about two hours before launch.
The decision came after the United Launch Alliance (ULA) team — which assembled the Atlas V rocket, on which the Starliner will go into space — identified a problem with a valve in the second stage, or upper part, of the rocket.
Sometimes, valves can get into a position where they start to “buzz” as they oscillate, or open and close quickly, said Tory Bruno, CEO of United Launch Alliance. Some of these noises are acceptable, but too many can cause the valve to fail, Bruno added.
After safely removing Williams and Wilmore from the Starliner capsule on Monday night, the United Launch Alliance team experimented with opening and closing the source of the buzzing, a pressure regulating valve in the liquid oxygen tank on top of the rocket. Still, more oscillations occurred during the process of removing fuel from the rocket.
The team carried out a detailed review of the valve this Tuesday (7). “After evaluating the valve’s history, launch attempt data logs, and evaluating the risks regarding continued use, the ULA team determined that it exceeded its qualification and mission managers agreed to remove and replace the part,” according to an update shared by NASA.
The decision to replace the valve means the rocket will need to be removed from the launch pad on Wednesday and taken to the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. While replacing the valve, the team will also perform leak checks and other functional tests to ensure the rocket is ready for a possible launch attempt on May 17.
During this time, Wilmore and Williams will stay in crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center and remain in quarantine before launch to protect their health.
Why is this release so important?
Before the valve problem arose, the Starliner — which Boeing designed to rival SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule — was scheduled to take off in its inaugural crewed test at 10:34 p.m. ET on Monday. , at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
This mission, called the Crew Flight Test, could be the last major milestone before NASA considers the Boeing spacecraft ready for routine operations as part of the federal agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The Starliner would join SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in NASA’s initiative to collaborate with private industry partners, expanding U.S. options for transporting astronauts to the International Space Station.
Williams and Wilmore have already ventured into space on two previous journeys aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle missions and Russian Soyuz missions.
“They are checking many of the systems: the life support, the manual control,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a press conference on Friday. “That’s why we put two test pilots on board — and of course Butch and Suni’s resumes are extensive.”
The launch will mark the sixth maiden voyage of a manned spacecraft in U.S. history, Nelson noted: “It started with Mercury, then Gemini, then Apollo, the space shuttle, then (SpaceX’s Dragon) — and now Starliner.”
Williams will also become the first woman to participate in such a mission.
What to expect
If all goes according to plan after launch, the spacecraft — with astronauts on board — will separate from the Atlas V rocket after reaching orbit and begin firing its own engines. Then, the Starliner will spend more than 24 hours making its way to the space station.
Williams and Wilmore are scheduled to spend about a week aboard the orbiting laboratory, joining the seven astronauts and cosmonauts already on board, while the Starliner remains docked outside.
The two will return home aboard the same Starliner capsule, which is expected to parachute into one of several designated locations in the southwestern United States.
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