The launch attempt was called off roughly two hours ahead of the planned liftoff.
NASA and Boeing were forced to stand down from an attempted launch to the International Space Station on Monday because of a last-minute issue that cropped up with a valve on the spacecraft’s rocket.
Boeing’s Starliner capsule had been scheduled to lift off at 10:34 p.m. ET from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on its first crewed test flight. NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams were on board the capsule and strapped into their seats when the launch attempt was called off, roughly two hours ahead of the planned liftoff.
A new launch date has not yet been announced.
Mission controllers declared a launch “scrub” after an anomaly was detected on an oxygen valve on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, which the Starliner capsule was to ride into orbit.
That damned door wouldn’t stay shut. They might need to put a cinder block against it or something.
Or wedge it closed with an inanimate carbon rod.
As much as I’d love to pile on Boeing, the article states the launch was scrubbed due to an issue with ULA’s rocket not the Boeing capsule payload.
ULA is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed, however.
But, again, Boeing spacecraft is a very separate division than commercial aircraft.
Yeah, apparently NASA are real sticklers about all the doors staying on all the time. Just ridiculous standards to expect!
Move Fast and Break Things hasn’t been a NASA motto since at least February 1, 2003.
The Kennedy Space Center has this flight reset for 10May2024, this Friday! Can’t imagine how the astronauts feel, having the mission scrubbed whilst all strapped in, told to go home and maybe they’ll shoot you into space in the next few days 😅
Knowing what happened to the Challenger after they had an oxygen valve problem, I imagine some degree of relief.
