{"id":17207,"date":"2024-05-06T18:51:51","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T10:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/first-crewed-flight-of-boeings-starliner-space-taxi-postponed-due-to-valve-issue\/"},"modified":"2024-05-06T18:51:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T10:51:51","slug":"first-crewed-flight-of-boeings-starliner-space-taxi-postponed-due-to-valve-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/first-crewed-flight-of-boeings-starliner-space-taxi-postponed-due-to-valve-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"First crewed flight of Boeing\u2019s Starliner space taxi postponed due to valve issue"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/240506-atlas-630x420.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-821777\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/240506-atlas-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/240506-atlas-1260x840.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/240506-atlas-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/240506-atlas-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/240506-atlas.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">Boeing\u2019s Starliner space taxi sits atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, ready for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. (ULA Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The first crewed flight of Boeing\u2019s Starliner space taxi was postponed today due to concerns about a valve on the upper stage of United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas V rocket. It was the latest in a years-long string of delays for what\u2019s expected to be a milestone mission for Boeing and commercial spaceflight.<\/p>\n<p>Liftoff had been set for 10:34 p.m. ET (7:34 p.m. PT) today from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station\u2019s Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida. But launch managers called a hold with a little more than 2 hours left in the countdown, after NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams had already climbed into the capsule.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe team has had some observations on an oxygen relief valve on our Centaur second stage, and the team is just not comfortable with the signatures that they\u2019re seeing, the response out of that valve,\u201d United Launch Alliance\u2019s Dillon Rice said. \u201cSo, out of an abundance of caution, we are not going to continue with our launch operations today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The astronauts climbed out of the capsule and headed back to their quarters. Meanwhile, ULA engineers checked into the balky valve, which didn\u2019t stay closed properly during preparations for launch and made a buzzing noise. The ULA team decided to replace the valve, which led mission managers to schedule the next launch attempt for no earlier than May 17.<\/p>\n<p>When liftoff occurs, it will be the first crewed launch on an Atlas rocket since the Mercury missions of the 1960s. But this mission will be nothing like anything NASA might have planned in the \u201960s. Wilmore and Williams plan to go to the International Space Station for what\u2019s basically a shakedown cruise in the gumdrop-shaped Starliner spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a lot to do \u2014 test it out, make sure it\u2019s ready to go and make sure we can bring it back so more people can fly on it in the future,\u201d Williams said in a pre-launch video clip from NASA.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NASA\u2019s Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test Launch Attempt \u2013 May 6, 2024 (Official NASA Broadcast)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wb3qcR2tUQs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>NASA chose Boeing and SpaceX to transport astronauts to and from the space station a decade ago, in the wake of the space shuttle fleet\u2019s retirement in 2011. The companies\u2019 development costs were covered by fixed-price contracts worth $4.2 billion for Boeing and $2.6 billion for SpaceX.<\/p>\n<p>Both companies encountered challenges as they built and tested their spacecraft. SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon entered service first. Crew Dragon Endeavour carried its first astronauts to the space station in 2020, and since then, Dragons have flown eight crews for NASA without a hitch. Boeing\u2019s CST-100 Starliner, however, met with a series of failures during an uncrewed test mission in 2019. It took years to resolve all the glitches and safety lapses. <\/p>\n<p>A re-do of the uncrewed flight test in 2022 set the stage for the crewed flight test, but NASA\u2019s contract terms required Boeing to cover $1.5 billion in extra expenses.<\/p>\n<p>Wilmore and Williams plan to spend about a week on the International Space Station doing orbital checkouts of the reusable Starliner craft \u2014 which has been christened Calypso in honor of the late ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau\u2019s famous research ship.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the mission, they\u2019ll ride Calypso back down to a parachute-assisted, airbag-cushioned touchdown in New Mexico or elsewhere in the western U.S., with the exact timing and location to be determined based on weather.<\/p>\n<p>Assuming all goes well during the demonstration mission, Boeing\u2019s Starliner will join the rotation with SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon for ferrying astronauts to the space station every six months or so. Although just two astronauts are on board for this test mission, Starliner is designed to carry up to seven spacefliers.<\/p>\n<p>Having two types of commercial space taxis, plus Russia\u2019s Soyuz spacecraft, will significantly boost the ability to get to the space station and back. \u201cMultiple providers provide you redundancy,\u201d Wilmore explained.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s not just about the International Space Station, which is due to go out of service in the early 2030s. Boeing and its Starliner space taxis are part of the team working on Orbital Reef, a commercial space station project that\u2019s led by Sierra Space and Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture. Boeing also partnered with Space Adventures years ago on a plan to send customers into orbit on a commercial basis.<\/p>\n<p><em>This report has been updated multiple times to reflect news developments, including the decision on May 7 to postpone the next launch attempt until May 17 at the earliest.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boeing\u2019s Starliner space taxi sits atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, ready for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. (ULA Photo) The first crewed flight of Boeing\u2019s Starliner space taxi was postponed today due to concerns about a valve on the upper stage of United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas V rocket. It was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[670,717,190,1306],"class_list":["post-17207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-boeing","tag-international-space-station","tag-nasa","tag-starliner"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}