Boeing is less than an hour away from its next attempt to launch NASA astronauts onboard its Starliner spacecraft.It’s a key test flight — the first time a crew will fly the vehicle to the International Space Station.The launch was originally scheduled for May 6, but that attempt was called off with roughly two hours left in the countdown. Now, liftoff is expected at 12:25 p.m. ET Saturday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The spacecraft will ride into orbit atop an Atlas V rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft sits atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket (Joe Raedle / Getty Images file)The test flight is intended to show that the Starliner can safely carry astronauts to and from the space station. If it is successful, NASA can authorize Boeing to conduct routine trips to the orbiting outpost, which would give it a long-awaited second option to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.Saturday’s early-morning preparations were mostly smooth, with just a few issues cropping up. Roughly two hours before liftoff, an issue was detected with ground instrumentation used to top off propellant in the Atlas V rocket’s upper stage, but engineers resolved the problem.Boeing’s May 6 launch was canceled because of an issue with a valve on the Atlas V rocket. NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams were already seated and strapped into the capsule when mission controllers opted to stand down.While work to fix the booster’s malfunctioning valve was underway, a separate problem — this time, a helium leak — was found in the Starliner capsule’s propulsion system, according to NASA. The discovery forced additional delays to a project that already has faced years of setbacks and budget overruns.At a news briefing last week, mission controllers said the rocket’s valve was successfully replaced but added that the helium leak would not be repaired before the coming flight.Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said that the slow leak was extensively analyzed and that it was determined that it is unlikely to pose a threat to the crew, the mission or the spacecraft.Repairing the leak would have required a much longer delay because the spacecraft would need to be detached from the rocket.Stich called the issue a “desig …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnBoeing is less than an hour away from its next attempt to launch NASA astronauts onboard its Starliner spacecraft.It’s a key test flight — the first time a crew will fly the vehicle to the International Space Station.The launch was originally scheduled for May 6, but that attempt was called off with roughly two hours left in the countdown. Now, liftoff is expected at 12:25 p.m. ET Saturday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The spacecraft will ride into orbit atop an Atlas V rocket built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft sits atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket (Joe Raedle / Getty Images file)The test flight is intended to show that the Starliner can safely carry astronauts to and from the space station. If it is successful, NASA can authorize Boeing to conduct routine trips to the orbiting outpost, which would give it a long-awaited second option to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.Saturday’s early-morning preparations were mostly smooth, with just a few issues cropping up. Roughly two hours before liftoff, an issue was detected with ground instrumentation used to top off propellant in the Atlas V rocket’s upper stage, but engineers resolved the problem.Boeing’s May 6 launch was canceled because of an issue with a valve on the Atlas V rocket. NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams were already seated and strapped into the capsule when mission controllers opted to stand down.While work to fix the booster’s malfunctioning valve was underway, a separate problem — this time, a helium leak — was found in the Starliner capsule’s propulsion system, according to NASA. The discovery forced additional delays to a project that already has faced years of setbacks and budget overruns.At a news briefing last week, mission controllers said the rocket’s valve was successfully replaced but added that the helium leak would not be repaired before the coming flight.Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said that the slow leak was extensively analyzed and that it was determined that it is unlikely to pose a threat to the crew, the mission or the spacecraft.Repairing the leak would have required a much longer delay because the spacecraft would need to be detached from the rocket.Stich called the issue a “desig …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
