People can see the Boeing Starliner capsule carrying an Atlas V rocket at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on May 7, a day after the capsule’s International Space Station mission was Canceled due to pressure regulating valve problem.
John Rau/Associated Press
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People can see the Boeing Starliner capsule carrying an Atlas V rocket at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on May 7, a day after the capsule’s International Space Station mission was Canceled due to pressure regulating valve problem.
John Rau/Associated Press
The first crewed launch of Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft has been postponed again to May 25, this time because of a helium leak in the service module.
NASA had originally planned to launch on May 21 after canceling the May 6 launch, but a helium leak was discovered on Wednesday. While the agency said the leak in the plane’s thruster system is stable and does not pose a risk during flight, “Boeing teams are working to develop operational procedures to ensure the system retains adequate performance capabilities and appropriate redundancy during flight.” .
While that work is ongoing, NASA said its Commercial Crew Program (CCP) and International Space Station program will review data and procedures before making a final decision on whether to continue the countdown.
The delay is the latest for the Starliner’s first crewed mission, which will transport NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Sunny” Williams to international space stand.The astronauts will spend about a week on the space station before making a parachute- and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States.
If the mission is successful, NASA will begin the final process to prove that Starliner can fly crew rotation missions to the space station.
Nearly a decade ago, NASA awarded Boeing a contract worth more than $4 billion as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew program, which pays private companies to fly astronauts to and from the space station after the shuttle is retired in 2011.
SpaceX also received a $2 billion contract under the initiative of the Chinese Communist Party and has carried out eight manned missions for NASA since 2020 and an additional four private manned spaceflights.
History of delays and design issues
But the Starliner program has been plagued by delays and design problems for years.
It failed to reach the space station on its first mission in 2019 because its onboard clock was set incorrectly, causing the computer to prematurely start the capsule’s engines. Although some thrusters failed during launch, the spacecraft successfully docked with the space station during its second test flight in 2022.
Boeing later canceled launch plans for last year’s first crewed flight of the Starliner after company officials realized that the tape used to wrap hundreds of yards of wires on the spacecraft was flammable and that the lines connecting the capsule to its three parachutes appeared to be larger than expected. . The launch was postponed indefinitely.
NASA said the May 6 launch was canceled due to a malfunctioning oxygen safety valve.
Wilmore and Williams remain in quarantine in Houston and will fly back to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida closer to the new launch date, NASA said. Starliner rides atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and remains at the vertically integrated facility at Space Launch Complex 41 at Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Boeing has faced intense scrutiny over its commercial aviation operations this year after a rear door plug burst on an Alaska Airlines flight shortly after takeoff in January.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was reviewing Boeing’s production after whistleblowers came forward to detail alleged quality control lapses at the storied company. The Justice Department also announced it would launch a criminal investigation into the Alaska Airlines incident.
NPR’s Joe Hernandez and Jeff Brumfield contributed reporting.
