Boeing’s Starliner astronaut launch has been postponed for a week to May 17 due to a faulty rocket valve that needs replacing.
The mission, which was scheduled to send Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station (ISS) for a week-long stay, has faced years of delays and comes at a challenging time for Boeing.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were seated and ready for liftoff on Monday night when the decision was made to abort the launch. Earlier, United Launch Alliance, the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin responsible for the rocket, announced that the launch would be postponed to at least May 10th. However, upon further analysis, it was discovered that a valve had undergone excessive wear and needed to be replaced. As a result, the rocket will be rolled back to its hangar for the necessary repairs.
NASA is banking on Starliner’s success as it hopes for a second commercial vehicle to carry crews to the orbital outpost. In 2020, Elon Musk’s SpaceX accomplished this milestone using its Dragon capsule, putting an end to nearly a decade of reliance on Russian rockets after the Space Shuttle program was discontinued.
