NASA and Boeing were forced to withdraw from a attempted launch to the International Space Station Monday due to a last-minute problem with a valve on the spacecraft’s rocket.
Boeing’s Starliner capsule was scheduled to lift off at 10:34 p.m. ET from the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida for 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, approximately two hours before the scheduled liftoff.
A new launch date has not yet been announced.
Mission controllers declared a launch “scrub” after an anomaly was detected on an oxygen valve on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, which the Starliner capsule was scheduled to deliver into orbit.
The crewed Starliner flight, when it occurs, will be a crucial final test before NASA can clear Boeing for routine flights to and from the space station.
NASA and Boeing officials said safety was paramount for the spacecraft’s first flight with humans on board.
This canceled launch represents a new setback for Boeing, which has already faced years of delays and budget overruns with its Starliner program. It is significantly behind SpaceX, which has been flying crewed missions to and from the space station for NASA since 2020.
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, following the retirement of the agency’s space shuttles, to help private companies build new space vehicles to take astronauts into low Earth orbit.
Starliner’s first uncrewed flight in 2019 was thwarted by software issues, force mission controllers to shorten the test before the vehicle can attempt to find and dock with the ISS. A second attempt was then repeatedly delayed due to fuel valve problems, and it was not until 2022 that Boeing was able to achieve a successful uncrewed flight to and from space station.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
