Boeing, NASA Delay Starliner Again Due to New Issue

The spacecraft’s inaugural crewed flight test will now occur no earlier than 4:43 p.m. EDT on Tuesday after teams discover a new issue.

Jack Daleo

Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 01:35 PM ET

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Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, stacked atop ULA’s Atlas V rocket, stands on the launchpad of Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. [Courtesy: NASA]

Key Takeaways:

Boeing's Starliner crewed flight test (CFT) is now targeting a new launch date of Tuesday, serving as the final test before NASA certifies the spacecraft for routine missions to the International Space Station.
The mission has faced multiple delays, initially due to an oscillating pressure regulation valve on the Atlas V rocket, and most recently because of a small helium leak found on Starliner's service module.
Starliner is intended to provide a redundant crew transport option to the ISS, complementing SpaceX's Crew Dragon, but its program has been significantly delayed over the years.

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NASA, Boeing, and United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are now targeting no earlier than 4:43 p.m. EDT on Tuesday for the next launch attempt of the crewed flight test (CFT) of Starliner: Boeing’s semireusable vessel to the International Space Station (ISS).

The approximately weeklong mission—which will take NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS and back—is intended to be Starliner’s final test flight before NASA certifies it for Commercial Crew rotation missions to the orbital laboratory. It would be the first crewed launch on ULA’s Atlas V rocket, which will send the spacecraft into orbit, and the first on the Atlas family of rockets in more than half a century.