Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were seated in the spacecraft when the decision to delay the launch was made.
The planned launch of the first crewed Boeing Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed indefinitely.
Just two hours before the scheduled liftoff, NASA announced a new issue that could impact the safety of the flight, prompting the decision to postpone the launch.
"Launch is not proceeding tonight," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a post on the agency's X site. "As I have said before, safety is NASA's top priority and we will launch when we're ready."
The decision was made after astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were already seated in the spacecraft.
The Starliner spacecraft was scheduled to launch at 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 GMT) on May 6 from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas V rocket provided by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The two astronauts were to take manual control of the spacecraft once in space.
The flight was to be the final test before Starliner is cleared to carry astronauts for NASA. NASA ISS program manager Dana Weigel has emphasized the importance for the agency to have a second commercial option for ferrying people to orbit, alongside SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, making this flight a major milestone for both Boeing and NASA.
The launch was delayed once again after NASA engineers said they needed more time to investigate unusual readings from an oxidizer valve on the rocket's second stage.
Previous Starliner tests have been unsuccessful. A 2019 uncrewed test flight failed to reach its intended orbit and had to return without visiting the ISS.
A second launch attempt in 2021 was also scrubbed due to technical problems. In May 2022, an uncrewed Starliner finally reached the ISS, but issues with the spacecraft have since delayed the first crewed test flight.
While the ISS is slated to be decommissioned in 2030, both Starliner and Dragon could be used to ferry astronauts to future commercial space stations planned by several companies.
Summary
- NASA has postponed the launch of the first crewed Starliner spacecraft due to concerns about an oxidizer valve on the rocket's second stage.
- The launch had been planned for Wednesday, May 6.
- This is the latest in a series of delays for Starliner, which was originally scheduled to launch in 2019.
- NASA is investigating the issue and has not yet announced a new launch date.