Washington:

Boeing Starliner’s return to Earth from the International Space Station with its first crew of astronauts has been pushed back to June 26, a NASA official said Tuesday.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams were launched aboard Starliner June 5 and arrived at the ISS the next day, following a 24-hour flight in which the spacecraft encountered four helium leaks and five failures of its 28 maneuvering thrusters.

The delay of the return of Starliner is intended “to give our team a little bit more time to look at the data, do some analysis and make sure we’re really ready to come home,” Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, said during a news conference.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying two astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner-1 Crew Flight Test (CFT), is launched on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. on June 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Boeing launched astronauts for the first time on June 5, belatedly joining SpaceX as a second taxi service for NASA.

A pair of NASA test pilots blasted off aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule for the International Space Station, the first to fly the new spacecraft.

The trip by Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams was expected to take 25 hours, with an arrival Thursday. They will spend just over a week at the orbiting lab before climbing back into Starliner for a remote desert touchdown in the western U.S. on June 14.

“Let’s get going!” Wilmore called out a few minutes before liftoff.

Half an hour later, he and Williams were safely in orbit and giving chase to the space station. Back at Cape Canaveral, the relieved launch controllers stood and applauded. After all the trouble leading up to Wednesday’s launch, including two scrapped countdowns, everything went smoothly before and during liftoff, prompting congratulations from SpaceX’s Elon Musk and others.

“Today it all lined up,” said Boeing program manager Mark Nappi.

Years late because of spacecraft flaws, Starliner’s crew debut comes as the company struggles with unrelated safety issues on its airplane side.

Wilmore and Williams — retired Navy captains and former space station residents — stressed repeatedly before the launch that they had full confidence in Boeing’s ability to get it right with this test flight. Crippled by bad software, Starliner’s initial test flight in 2019 without a crew had to be repeated before NASA would let its astronauts strap in. The 2022 do-over went much better, but parachute problems later cropped up and flammable tape had to be removed from the capsule.

Wednesday’s launch was the third attempt with astronauts since early May, coming after a pair of rocket-related problems, most recently last weekend. A small helium leak in the spacecraft’s propulsion system also caused delays, but remained extremely low and manageable.

“It’s just a tough endeavor to get to flight and huge kudos to the entire team for getting there,” said Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager.

Boeing was hired alongside Elon Musk’s SpaceX a decade ago to ferry NASA’s astronauts to and from the space station. The space agency wanted two competing U.S. companies for the job in the wake of the space shuttles’ retirement, paying $4.2 billion to Boeing and just over half that to SpaceX, which refashioned the capsule it was using to deliver station supplies.

SpaceX launched astronauts into orbit in 2020, becoming the first private business to achieve what only three countries — Russia, the U.S. and China — had mastered. It has taken nine crews to the space station for NASA and three private groups for a Houston company that charters flights.

The liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station was the 100th of an Atlas V for rocket maker United Launch Alliance. It was the first ride for astronauts on an Atlas rocket since John Glenn’s Mercury era more than 60 years ago; the rocket usually launches satellites and other spacecraft.

Despite the Atlas V’s perfect record, the human presence cranked up the tension for the scores of NASA and Boeing employees gathered at Cape Canaveral and Mission Control in Houston.

Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Dragon are designed to be fully autonomous and reusable. Wilmore and Williams occasionally will take manual control of Starliner on their way to the space station, to check out its systems. The only snag early in the flight involved the capsule’s cooling system. More water was used than expected before the radiators took over in orbit. The tank will be refilled before the ride home.

If the mission goes well, NASA will alternate between SpaceX and Boeing for taxi flights, beginning next year. The backup pilot for this test flight, Mike Fincke, will strap in for Starliner’s next trip.

“This is exciting. We built up to this moment for years and years, and it finally happened,” Fincke said from neighboring Kennedy Space Center. “I feel like the whole planet was cheering for them.”

New Delhi:

Boeing’s Starliner space capsule was set for its inaugural test flight with NASA astronauts, including Indian-origin Sunita Williams, on board. However, the launch was automatically halted mere minutes before liftoff due to a computer abort system, marking another indefinite delay for the project.

The countdown to launch had reached the final stages when the automatic abort was triggered by the ground system computer responsible for coordinating the last moments before liftoff. With just three minutes and 50 seconds left on the clock, the system issued a command that stopped the launch sequence. According to officials, the Starliner capsule itself appeared to be in good condition.

History Of Challenges

This latest postponement is part of a series of last-minute technical issues that teams had been working through. Initially, NASA and Boeing planned for a potential launch window today. However, NASA decided against it, stating that additional time was needed to assess the issue thoroughly. The next available windows are June 5 and June 6.

“We got really close today,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, as quoted by news agency Reuters. “I know it’s a little disappointing, we were all excited. This is kind of the way spaceflight is.”

Tory Bruno, CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA), the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin that owns the Atlas V rocket, suggested that the issue could be a hardware malfunction or a network communication problem between the three computers managing the automated launch systems.

Boeing’s journey with the Starliner has been fraught with challenges. The first attempt to send an uncrewed Starliner to the ISS in 2019 failed due to software and engineering problems. A second attempt in 2022 succeeded, setting the stage for this first crewed test mission. Previous delays, including a faulty pressure valve and various engineering issues, have already pushed the timeline back significantly.

Boeing’s Hopes

NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams were strapped into their seats for several hours before the mission was halted. Technicians safely assisted them out of the capsule, and they were returned to quarantine to await the next launch attempt. This mission is critical for Boeing, as it aims to establish the Starliner as a reliable option for ferrying astronauts to the ISS and beyond, competing against SpaceX’s Crew Dragon missions.

The Starliner program, under a $4.2 billion contract with NASA, has seen its budget swell to around $4.5 billion due to various setbacks. For Boeing, success with the Starliner is crucial, not only for its space ventures but also to recover from crises in its commercial aeroplane manufacturing operations. NASA, on the other hand, views the Starliner as a key component of its strategy to diversify its astronaut transport options, which is crucial for its broader Artemis program aimed at returning humans to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

Once launched, the Starliner is expected to dock with the ISS approximately 24 hours later. The mission includes tasks such as testing manual control capabilities and evaluating the spacecraft’s performance as a potential safe haven. After about a week at the ISS, the astronauts will return to Earth, landing with the help of parachutes and airbags in the US Desert Southwest.

A launch pad and a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying two astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner-1 Crew Flight Test (CFT) is seen.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Last-minute computer trouble nixed the June 1 launch attempt for Boeing’s first astronaut flight, the latest in a string of delays over the years.

Two NASA astronauts were strapped in the company’s Starliner capsule when the countdown automatically was halted at 3 minutes and 50 seconds by the computer system that controls the final minutes before liftoff.

Also read | Chinese spacecraft successfully lands on moon’s far side

With only a split second to take off, there was no time to work the latest problem and the launch was called off.

Technicians raced to the pad to help astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams out of the capsule atop the fully fueled Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Within an hour of the launch abort, the hatch was reopened.

The team can’t get to the computers to troubleshoot the problem until the rocket is drained of all its fuel, said Tory Bruno, CEO for the rocket maker, United Launch Alliance.

Bruno said one of the three redundant computers located near the rocket at the pad was sluggish. All three must work properly to proceed with a launch, he said.

Depending on what needs to be fixed, the next launch attempt could be as early as Wednesday. If it doesn’t blast off this coming week, then that would be it until mid-June in order to move the rocket off the pad and replace batteries.

“This is the business that we’re in,” Boeing’s Mark Nappi said. “Everything’s got to work perfectly.”

It was the second launch attempt. The first try on May 6 was delayed for leak checks and rocket repairs.

NASA wants a backup to SpaceX, which has been flying astronauts since 2020.

Boeing should have launched its first crew around the same time as SpaceX, but its first test flight with no one on board in 2019 was plagued by severe software issues and never made it to the space station.

A redo in 2022 fared better, but parachute problems and flammable later caused more delays. A small helium leak in the capsule’s propulsion system last month came on top of a rocket valve issue.

More valve trouble cropped up two hours before Saturday’s planned liftoff, but the team used a backup circuit to get the ground-equipment valves working to top off the fuel for the rocket’s upper stage. Launch controllers were relieved to keep pushing ahead, but the computer system known as the ground launch sequencer ended the effort.

“Of course, this is emotionally disappointing,” NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, the backup pilot, said from neighboring Kennedy Space Center shortly after the countdown was halted.

But he said delays are part of spaceflight. “We’re going to have a great launch in our future.”

New Delhi:

Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, the poster girl for women aspiring to fly into space, was set to reach for the skies again today in a brand-new spacecraft, but it did not happen as planned.

The launch into space on the Boeing Starliner was “scrubbed” or called off just three minutes and fifty-one seconds before lift-off. It is now postponed for another day. Both astronauts – Ms Williams and Butch Wilmore – were seated in the new Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which was on its maiden mission. It was to lift off using the Atlas V rocket from Florida, USA, at 10 pm, but it was postponed minutes before liftoff.

This is the second scrub for the Boeing Starliner spaceship. Both astronauts are safe. The Atlas V rocket is also safe. As of now, NASA estimates it will take at least 24 hours to try again, but no new liftoff time has been announced.

A technical glitch was detected by the ground launch sequencer, the computer that monitors the health of the rocket. The astronauts will now exit the Starliner capsule and return to the crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center.

An earlier attempt on May 7 was postponed hours before liftoff due to a technical glitch. A NASA statement said, “Boeing, United Launch Alliance, and NASA scrubbed the previous launch opportunity on May 7 [India time] due to a suspect oxygen relief valve on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur second stage. Since then, teams have removed and replaced the valve, and completed an assessment of Starliner’s performance and redundancy after discovering a small helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module.”

This would have been the third space travel for the Indian-origin astronaut, who has already spent 322 days in space and held a record for the maximum number of hours of spacewalk by a woman, before being overtaken by Peggy Whitson.

This time, she could make history as the first woman to fly on a maiden crewed mission of a new space shuttle.

Ms Williams went on her first space voyage on December 9, 2006, which lasted until June 22, 2007. While on board, she established a world record for women by going on four spacewalks that added up to 29 hours and 17 minutes.

The 59-year-old had admitted to being a bit nervous but said she had no jitters about flying in a new spacecraft. She had helped design the Starliner, working with engineers from NASA and Boeing. “When I reach the International Space Station, it will be like going back home,” she said.

New Delhi:

Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, the poster girl for women aspiring to fly into space, was set to reach for the skies again today in a brand-new spacecraft, but it did not happen as planned.

The launch into space on the Boeing Starliner was “scrubbed” or called off just three minutes and fifty-one seconds before lift-off. It is now postponed for another day. Both astronauts – Ms Williams and Butch Wilmore – were seated in the new Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which was on its maiden mission. It was to lift off using the Atlas V rocket from Florida, USA, at 10 pm, but it was postponed minutes before liftoff.

This is the second scrub for the Boeing Starliner spaceship. Both astronauts are safe. The Atlas V rocket is also safe. As of now, NASA estimates it will take at least 24 hours to try again, but no new liftoff time has been announced.

A technical glitch was detected by the ground launch sequencer, the computer that monitors the health of the rocket. The astronauts will now exit the Starliner capsule and return to the crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center.

An earlier attempt on May 7 was postponed hours before liftoff due to a technical glitch. A NASA statement said, “Boeing, United Launch Alliance, and NASA scrubbed the previous launch opportunity on May 7 [India time] due to a suspect oxygen relief valve on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur second stage. Since then, teams have removed and replaced the valve, and completed an assessment of Starliner’s performance and redundancy after discovering a small helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module.”

This would have been the third space travel for the Indian-origin astronaut, who has already spent 322 days in space and held a record for the maximum number of hours of spacewalk by a woman, before being overtaken by Peggy Whitson.

This time, she could make history as the first woman to fly on a maiden crewed mission of a new space shuttle.

Ms Williams went on her first space voyage on December 9, 2006, which lasted until June 22, 2007. While on board, she established a world record for women by going on four spacewalks that added up to 29 hours and 17 minutes.

The 59-year-old had admitted to being a bit nervous but said she had no jitters about flying in a new spacecraft. She had helped design the Starliner, working with engineers from NASA and Boeing. “When I reach the International Space Station, it will be like going back home,” she said.

Washington:

Boeing’s first Starliner mission carrying astronauts into space has been delayed again – until at least May 21 – over an issue with the spacecraft’s propulsion system, the company said on Tuesday.

Starliner’s mission carrying two NASA astronauts had been scheduled for liftoff from Florida last week until a technical issue with its Atlas 5 rocket prompted a delay to Friday, May 17, the latest postponement for a program years behind schedule and more than $1.5 billion over budget.

A new technical issue, now concerning Starliner itself, has prompted another postponement to at least next Tuesday, Boeing said in a statement.

“Starliner teams are working to resolve a small helium leak detected in the spacecraft’s service module,” Boeing said, adding that engineers traced the leak to a component on one of the propulsion system’s 28 control thrusters that are used for maneuvering in Earth’s orbit.

Boeing has been developing Starliner for more than a decade to provide NASA with a second U.S. spacecraft capable of ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, built under the same NASA program, first launched astronauts to space in 2020.

Starliner’s latest mission, called the Crewed Flight Test, is due to be the final test before the spacecraft is certified by the U.S. space agency to fly routine astronaut missions to the ISS. Boeing completed an uncrewed Starliner trip to the ISS in 2022 following years of technical and management issues.

NASA officials and Boeing engineers will run tests and try to fix the helium leak before the next possible launch window on May 21 at 4:43 p.m. ET (2043 GMT). Helium is used on Starliner to pressurize the fuel that powers the spacecraft’s thrusters for orbital maneuvering.

The Atlas 5 rocket, built by the Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA), launches Starliner into space. Before attempting to launch Starliner last week, ULA discovered a faulty valve on the Atlas 5 and rolled the rocket off the launchpad to replace the valve.

Sensors on Starliner first detected suspicious traces of helium inside the propulsion system while the spacecraft was on the launchpad last week, but those detections did not raise alarm to engineers at the time, according to a person briefed on the mission operations.

Boeing engineers investigated the helium detections while ULA was replacing the faulty valve on Atlas 5 and determined more testing and scrutiny was needed in order to meet the mission’s strict launch safety criteria, the person said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams gets ready to board the Boeing’s Starliner capsule atop an Atlas V rocket for a mission to the International Space Station at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, on May 6, 2024. The launch was called off.
| Photo Credit: AP

The target date for the next attempt to launch Boeing Co’s Starliner space capsule on its first crewed test flight featuring Indian-American Sunita Williams has been pushed back to no earlier than May 17, to replace a pressure valve on its booster rocket, NASA said on Tuesday.

The CST-100 Starliner’s debut voyage carrying astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) has been highly anticipated and much-delayed as Boeing scrambles to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX for a greater share of lucrative NASA business.

The test flight was called off on Monday night with less than two hours left in the countdown after a pressure regulation valve malfunctioned on the upper-stage liquid oxygen tank of the Atlas V rocket that was to launch the new capsule into orbit.

The two-member crew — NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore, 61, and Sunita Williams, 58 — had been strapped into their seats aboard the spacecraft for about an hour before launch activities were suspended.

The rocket, a separate component from the Starliner capsule, was furnished for the mission by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture.

After Monday night’s aborted launch attempt, NASA, Boeing and ULA announced that they would seek to try again as early as Friday, May 10.

But in an update posted Tuesday evening, NASA said more time was needed after ULA “decided to remove and replace” the faulty pressure valve. That will require the rocket to be rolled back to its hangar on Wednesday for repairs, leak checks and other reviews ahead of a second launch attempt, NASA said.

Those operations pushed the potential launch date back another week, NASA said.

The long-awaited first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft was called off for at least 24 hours over a technical glitch with the Atlas V rocket that was being readied to launch the new astronaut capsule to orbit on Monday night.

The CST-100 Starliner’s inaugural voyage carrying astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) has been highly anticipated and much-delayed as Boeing scrambles to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX for a greater share of lucrative NASA business.

ALSO READ | Significance of Boeing Starliner’s first crewed test flight on May 7 | Explained

It comes two years after the gumdrop-shaped capsule completed its first test flight to the orbital laboratory without humans aboard. The Starliner’s first uncrewed flight to the ISS in 2019 ended in failure.

Its latest flight was scrubbed with less than two hours left in the countdown as the capsule stood poised for blastoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop an Atlas V rocket furnished by United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture.

The postponement, attributed to an issue with a valve in the Atlas rocket’s second stage, was announced during a live NASA webcast.

It was not immediately clear how long the issue would take to address, but the next available launch windows for the mission are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights.

The two-member crew — NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, and Sunita Williams, 58 — had been strapped into their seats aboard the spacecraft for about an hour before launch activities were suspended.

They were subsequently assisted safely out of the capsule by technicians and whisked away from the launch complex in a van to await a second flight attempt once the issue has been resolved.

It is not uncommon in the space industry for countdowns to be halted at the 11th hour and for launches to be postponed for days or weeks, even when seemingly minor malfunctions or unusual sensor readings are detected, especially in new spacecraft flying humans for the first time.

Boeing faces intense public scrutiny of all its activities after its commercial airplane operations have been staggered by several crises, including the mid-air blowout of a plane door plug in January. The company has been eager to get its Starliner space venture off the ground to show signs of success and redeem a program years behind schedule with more than $1.5 billion in cost overruns.

While Boeing has struggled, SpaceX has become a dependable taxi to orbit for NASA, which is backing a new generation of privately built spacecraft that can ferry its astronauts and other customers to the ISS and, under the space agency’s more ambitious Artemis program, to the moon and eventually Mars.

Though Boeing has been relatively mute about its plans to sell commercial Starliner flights, the spacecraft would compete head-to-head with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, which since 2020 has been NASA’s only vehicle for sending ISS crew to orbit from U.S. soil.

Seasoned test flight crew

Selected to ride aboard Starliner for its first crewed flight were two NASA veterans who have logged a combined 500 days in space over the course of two previous missions each to the space station. Mr. Wilmore is the designated commander for Monday’s flight, with Ms. Williams in the pilot seat.

Although Starliner is designed to fly autonomously, the astronauts can assume control of the spacecraft if necessary. The test flight calls for Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams to practice maneuvering the vehicle manually while en route to the ISS.

Ironically, the flight would mark the first crewed voyage to space using an Atlas rocket since the storied series of launch vehicles first sent astronauts, including John Glenn, on orbital flights for NASA’s Mercury program in the 1960s.

Once launched, the capsule will arrive at the space station after a flight of about 26 hours and dock with the orbiting research outpost some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth. A resident ISS crew, currently comprising four U.S. astronauts and three Russian cosmonauts, will be there to greet them.

Mr. Wilmore and Ms. Williams are expected to remain at the space station for about a week before riding the Starliner back to Earth for a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the U.S. Desert Southwest – the first time such a system has been used for crewed NASA missions.

The test flight comes at an especially critical moment for Boeing. Its airplane business is dealing with fallout from a midair blowout of a cabin panel door plug on a nearly new 737 MAX 9 in January, as well as previous deadly crashes of two 737 MAX jets.

Getting Starliner to this point has been a fraught process for Boeing, beset by years of development setbacks and more than $1.5 billion in charges for the aerospace giant on a $4.2 billion fixed-priced contract with NASA.

The space agency wants the redundancy of having two different U.S. rides to the ISS, which is expected to retire around 2030. NASA is encouraging private development of new space stations that could replace the ISS after its retirement, potentially giving Starliner new destinations.

Depending on the outcome of the forthcoming flight test, Starliner is booked to fly at least six more crewed missions to the space station for NASA.

The launch of the Boeing Starliner, which was set to take astronaut Sunita Williams to space for a third time, has been postponed due to a technical glitch. No new date has been announced for the launch.

Ms Williams, poster girl for women aspiring to fly into space, was set to reach for the skies again today in a brand-new spacecraft. The Boeing Starliner was set to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida’s Cape Canaveral at 8.04 am India time.

However, just 90 minutes before the lift-off, the launch of the Atlas V rocket was called off. US space agency NASA has announced there was an off-nominal condition on an oxygen relief valve, which led to the postponement. Ms Williams and NASA’s Barry Wilmore, who were to fly the Starliner to the International Space Station, have safely exited the spacecraft. 

This would have been the third space travel for the Indian-origin astronaut, who has already spent 322 days in space and held a record for the maximum hours of spacewalk by a woman, before being overtaken by Peggy Whitson.

This time, she would have made history as the first woman to fly on a maiden crewed mission of a new space shuttle.

Ms Williams went on her first space voyage on December 9, 2006, which lasted till June 22, 2007. While onboard, she established a world record for women by going on four spacewalks that added up to 29 hours and 17 minutes.

Her second voyage was from July 14 to November 18, 2012.

The 59-year-old admitted to being a bit nervous but said she had no jitters about flying in a new spacecraft. She had helped design the Starliner, working with engineers from NASA and Boeing. “When I reach the International Space Station, it will be like going back home,” she said.

Ahead of the flight, she had told NDTV that she intended to carry an idol of Lord Ganesh on this journey, since he is her “good luck charm”. Earlier, she had carried a copy of the Bhagwad Gita. An enthusiastic marathoner, she had even completed a triathlon in space, competing with athletes back in the US.

The 10-day mission will help the Starliner prove its space-worthiness. It would also prove the team’s readiness to achieve NASA certification and fly long-duration missions for the US space agency.