Replace: Might 6, 6:46 p.m. ET: No launch tonight. “ULA Launch Director Tom Heter III has made the choice to the launch staff that launch operations is not going to proceed tonight for [Atlas V and Starliner],” in accordance to an organization tweet. An oxygen reduction valve within the higher stage centaur is the wrongdoer. Atlas V is an exceptionally dependable rocket, so a scrub for a technical purpose comes as a shock. No phrase but on when ULA will re-attempt a launch, however we’ll hold you posted.
Authentic article follows.
It’s been over a decade within the making, however Boeing is lastly able to launch its first crewed check flight to the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) as a part of its settlement with NASA.
Boeing Starliner spacecraft is ready for launch on Monday at 10:34 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Area Power Station in Florida. The crew capsule will experience atop United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the house station and again.
NASA will broadcast the launch dwell on its web site and the house company’s YouTube channel, and you may as well tune in by the feed beneath. The launch protection will start at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Boeing’s Crewed Flight Check is a part of NASA’s Business Crew Program, and is supposed to move crew and cargo to and from the ISS beneath a $4.3 billion contract with the house company. NASA’s different business associate, SpaceX, simply launched its eighth crew to the house station.
It’s been a tough journey for Boeing to make it up to now. Starliner’s first uncrewed check flight in 2019 managed to achieve house, however a software program automation glitch precipitated the spacecraft to burn extra gas, stopping it from making it to the ISS. Starliner miscalculated its location in house attributable to a glitch attributable to a defective mission elapsed timer.
The botched first flight prompted NASA to name for a second check flight of the empty spacecraft earlier than a crew rides on board. In Might 2022, Boeing accomplished the Orbital Flight Check-2 (OFT-2), the second uncrewed check flight of Starliner, setting the stage for a crewed check flight. However OFT-2 suffered a couple of hiccups, together with the failure of a thruster used for orbital maneuvering.
Boeing’s crewed Starliner launch was initially set for February 2023, then postponed to late April, and eventually rescheduled for July 21, 2023. A number of weeks earlier than liftoff, nevertheless, the corporate introduced that it was standing down from the launch try to handle newfound points with the crew car.
This system has suffered from a slew of issues and delays from the beginning, which makes Monday’s launch an absolute nail-biter.
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