Before the decision to postpone the launch of the Starliner spacecraft was made, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were already seated in the cockpit.
The plan to launch the crewed Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) was unable to take place as expected.
Two hours before the scheduled launch, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that a new issue had been detected that could affect the safety of the flight, leading to the postponement of the launch.
Starliner spacecraft – (Photo credit: NASA).
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson’s post on platform X stated: “The launch cannot proceed tonight. As I have said before, NASA’s top priority is safety. We will launch when everything is ready.”
Prior to this decision, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were already seated in the cockpit.
According to the plan, the Starliner spacecraft was scheduled to be launched from Cape Canaveral at 10:34 PM local time on May 6 (which is 9:34 AM on May 7 in Vietnam), using an Atlas V rocket manufactured by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. When the Starliner reaches space, the two astronauts will test manual control of the spacecraft.
This would be the final test before Starliner officially takes over transporting astronauts for NASA. Dana Weigel, the ISS program director at NASA, emphasized the importance of having a second option for sending humans into space, in addition to SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. Therefore, this flight is considered a significant milestone for both Boeing and NASA.
The launch has once again been postponed due to NASA engineers believing they need more time to investigate abnormal indicators from the oxygen vent valve on the second stage of the rocket.
Previously, several Starliner test flights were unsuccessful. In the first uncrewed test flight in 2019, the Starliner did not reach its correct orbit and had to return without approaching the ISS.
Subsequently, due to technical issues, the test launch in 2021 was also postponed. In May 2022, the uncrewed Starliner successfully reached the ISS, but subsequent problems delayed the first crewed test flight.
Although the ISS is expected to cease operations in 2030, both Starliner and Dragon could be used to ferry humans to private space stations that some companies are planning to build in the future.
