The launch of Boeing’s Starliner tonight has been pushed back “out of an abundance of caution.” The historic launch was supposed to happen just two hours ago. It is said that the scrub was necessary because of a problem with the oxygen release valve on the upper stage of the Atlas V rocket.
On May 7, 10, and 11, there are backup launch times. The mission will be Boeing’s first try to send astronauts to the International Space Station. It has been years in the making and has cost over $1 billion more than planned.
After fixing the problem with the upper stage, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V will take the CST-100 Starliner ship to orbit with Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams inside. The launch will happen Monday night at 10:34 PM local time from Cape Canaveral in Florida. This is also the first time that ULA’s Atlas will move people. The rocket has completed 99 flights successfully. ULA is a business that Boeing and Lockheed Martin own together.
The men would now dock at the station no later than Thursday and stay for at least eight days. Their return to Earth in the capsule can’t happen before May 16.
If everything goes as planned, Boeing will finally be able to certify its Starliner for transporting people and start meeting the terms of its $4.2 billion deal with NASA to become an astronaut taxi. The government gave that contract out in 2014 as part of its Commercial Crew Program. SpaceX, run by Elon Musk, was also given a contract under that program for its Crew Dragon capsule. Since 2020, it has been taking people to and from the ISS.
SpaceX’s human transportation services have grown quickly, with over a dozen crewed missions and a lot of private flights with Axiom Space and billionaire Jared Isaacman. Boeing, on the other hand, has dropped far behind. The aerospace giant first tried to send a mission to the ISS without any crew in 2019, but technical problems stopped it. More problems held up the next try, and it wasn’t finally successful until 2022.
Boeing had to pay $1.5 billion in fees because the Starliner program was late last year.
But NASA and Boeing have both said that they are committed to the operation and the safety of the two astronauts, even though there have been some technical problems.
At the end of last month, NASA’s associate administrator Jim Free told the press, “The lives of our crew members Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are at stake.” “That is none of our business.”
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In fact, a successful trip would bring NASA one step closer to having two operational transportation providers. This would give the Commercial Crew program much-needed redundancy. Boeing has agreed to use it for six trips with astronauts.
Musk talked about the trip on X, the social media site he also owns. He said, “Even though Boeing got $4.2 billion to build an astronaut capsule and SpaceX only got $2.6 billion, SpaceX finished 4 years earlier.”
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