The launch of Boeing’s Starliner rocket, which was to transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time, was delayed due to a technical problem.
About two hours before the scheduled launch, on Monday, the North American space agency identified an anomaly in a valve on the Atlas V rocket, the rocket manufacturer, the ULA group, announced.
“NASA’s priority is safety,” reacted the director of the North American space agency, Bill Nelson. Takeoff will take place when everything is ready, he wrote. on the social network (formerly Twitter).
Give up tonight’s launch attempt #Starliner. As I said before, @POTThe first priority is safety. We leave when we are ready. https://t.co/KIasomZG66
—Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) May 7, 2024
A new takeoff attempt could take place this Tuesday, Friday or Saturday, but a new date has not yet been announced.
Boeing is investing heavily in this latest test mission, which should allow it to join the small club of astronaut-carrying spacecraft.
The aerospace giant must prove the vehicle is safe before it can begin regular missions to the ISS, four years behind SpaceX.
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule joined this list in 2020, succeeding the legendary Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs.
After the shuttle program ended in 2011, NASA astronauts had to travel aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
To put an end to this dependence, in 2014 the North American space agency signed contracts worth 4.2 billion dollars (3.9 billion euros) with Boeing and 2.6 billion dollars (2.42 billion euros) with SpaceX for the development of new spacecraft. .
Once Starliner is operational, NASA hopes to alternate between SpaceX and Boeing flights to take astronauts to the ISS.
After the deactivation of the ISS in 2030, the two ships can be used to transport people to future private space stations, which several North American companies are already planning to build.
Source: Observadora
