NASA and Boeing plan to launch Starliner spacecraft on Wednesday

Miami (EFE).- NASA and Boeing have set next Wednesday as a possible launch date for the first manned space mission of a private firm after a failed attempt this Saturday.

The US space agency and the private firm said in a joint statement that teams would have more time to evaluate a technical problem reported at the launch pad that led to the grounding of the flight on Saturday with less than four minutes left before takeoff.

The privately owned Starliner spacecraft, with NASA astronauts Barry “Boot” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams inside, was scheduled to take off at 12:25 pm (1625 GMT) on Saturday and head to the International Space Station (ISS). .), equipped with the Atlas V rocket from the United Launch Alliance (ULA).

Repeated failures of NASA and Boeing missions

However, the ground launch program detected an anomaly and automatically aborted the mission with three minutes and 50 seconds left before takeoff from the platform at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida (USA).

At a press conference after the launch was suspended, ULA President Tory Bruno said the problem could be caused by a faulty card in the sequencer system located in a structure at the base of the platform.

Mission officials had hoped they could quickly resolve the problem and try to get the launch going this Sunday, but Bruno said that if the failure involved more than just changing the card in the computer, “or it just takes longer to get through all of this, “They’ll have to move to the next backup date, which is next Wednesday.

Boeing’s first manned flight

In a subsequent statement, NASA confirmed that the launch of the mission, called CFT (Crew Flight Test), on Sunday was no longer possible.

Besides Wednesday, the next backup date NASA and Boeing have is next Thursday. If the mission can’t be launched next week, it will have to be delayed for at least ten days to be able to change the ULA rocket’s batteries.

On May 6, Starliner was preparing to ascend to the ISS with Wilmore and Williams on board from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, but two hours before launch, the operation was suspended after an anomaly was discovered in the liquid oxygen tank on board. Atlas V from ULA.

They aim to deliver cargo and crew to the ISS

A helium leak was subsequently discovered in the Starliner service module, leading to further delays.

The success of the CFT mission will allow Boeing to obtain the necessary certifications from NASA to act as the second provider of cargo and crew transportation services to the ISS.

Boeing and SpaceX have signed million-dollar contracts with NASA to provide this service, and to date only the latter has been able to achieve this goal.