Boeing’s crewed spacecraft’s launch has been pushed back to May 17 due to a valve replacement.

Miami, May 8 (EFE). — Boeing and NASA have postponed the launch of the first manned space mission, Starliner, to May 17 next year due to the need to replace a valve on the Atlas V launch vehicle, the US space agency said. agency.

Boeing’s Starliner test mission managers have set next Friday as the tentative take-off date from Florida, US, after being canceled with about two hours remaining before last Monday’s scheduled take-off from Florida to discover some faulty valves.

Starliner was scheduled to take off that day at 22:34 local time (0234 GMT Tuesday) from the launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams as crew.

However, as Boeing later reported, mission control detected “anomalous behavior of the pressure control valve in the liquid oxygen tank of the upper stage” of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V launch vehicle.

After completing the analysis of the data, ULA decided to replace this valve, which will require removing the rocket with the ship on top of the launch platform and transporting it to a hangar where the operation will be carried out.

Boeing’s CFT (Crew Flight Test) mission aims to obtain the necessary certifications from NASA to be able to begin operating as a second provider of crew and cargo transportation to the so-called Orbital Laboratory, a service that the company has already officially provided since 2020. .

Last week, James Free, NASA associate administrator, warned that the CFT is a test flight and therefore unforeseen events may occur.