Sunita Williams, 58, and Barry Wilmore, 60, were strapped into their seats for an hour before the Boeing Starliner spacecraft was forced to abort its launch. The Starliner spaceship launch by Boeing has been postponed for a minimum of twenty-four hours due to an issue with the Atlas V rocket.
- The first crewed test flight of Boeing’s new Starliner space capsule called off
- NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore, 61, and Sunita Williams were in for launch
- Sunita Williams waiting in line for commercial crew flights for nearly a decade
Due to a technical problem, Boeing’s much-anticipated first crewed test flight of the Starliner space capsule was canceled on Tuesday. A live NASA webcast revealed the postponement, which was ascribed to a problem with a valve in the rocket’s second stage.
At 8.04 am India time, the Boeing Starliner was scheduled to take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
“NASA, Boeing, and United Launch Alliance scrubbed the launch opportunity on Monday, May 6 for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station due to a faulty oxygen relief valve observation on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Centaur second stage,” the space agency said in a statement.
The two-member crew – NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore, 61, and Sunita Williams, 58 – were strapped into their seats aboard the spacecraft about an hour before launch activities were suspended.
They will be assisted out of the capsule by technicians to await a second launch attempt.
The duo were to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, with liftoff scheduled for 8.04 am IST on Tuesday.
Williams, who has been waiting in line for a commercial crew flight for nearly a decade, was initially assigned to the program in 2015 due to her extensive experience in spacecraft development. She was later assigned to the CFT mission in 2022.
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The next available launch window for the mission is Tuesday night, but no decision was immediately made for when a second liftoff attempt would be made.
During the approximately 10-day mission, Wilmore and Williams will thoroughly test the Starliner’s systems and capabilities, paving the way for the spacecraft to begin operational crew flights to the space station.
The successful completion of this Crew Flight Test will bring the Starliner one step closer to regularly delivering personnel to and from the ISS, further solidifying the United States’ independent access to space.
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