NASA, Boeing Set New Timeline for Scrubbed Starliner Launch

The space agency and manufacturer are now targeting a launch no earlier than 6:16 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 17.

Wednesday, May 08, 2024 at 05:05 PM ET

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United Launch Alliance on Wednesday returned Starliner and the Atlas V launch vehicle to NASA’s Vertical Integration Facility, where teams are replacing a faulty valve. [Courtesy: NASA Commercial Crew]

Key Takeaways:

Boeing's Starliner inaugural crewed flight (CFT-1) has been delayed again, now targeting no earlier than May 17 for its next launch attempt.
The latest postponement, occurring just two hours before a planned May 6 launch, was caused by a faulty oscillating pressure regulation valve on the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket's upper stage, which teams are replacing.
This flight is a critical final test for Starliner, a program with a nearly decade-long history of delays, before it can be deployed alongside SpaceX's Crew Dragon for NASA's Commercial Crew program.

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The inaugural crewed flight test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, a reusable capsule designed to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), will launch no earlier than May 17, NASA said Tuesday.

Initially scheduled for early 2023, the flight, called Boeing Crewed Flight Test-1 (CFT-1), has since been delayed multiple times. The most recent setback occurred before a planned launch on Monday, which was called off just two hours before takeoff due to a valve issue on the upper stage of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V launch vehicle that will send Starliner into orbit. ULA is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.