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NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams, right, wearing Boeing spacesuits, are seen as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to board the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for the Crew Flight Test launch, Monday, May 6, 2024, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is the first launch with astronauts of the Boeing CFT-100 spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky) ( )
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NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronaut Suni Williams flashes a thumbs up after exiting the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a mission dress rehearsal on Friday, April 26, 2024. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, Wilmore and Williams are the first to launch to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. (NASA/Frank Micheaux)
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From left to right, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore pose in front of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in the early morning of Tuesday, April 16, 2024, outside the company’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett ( )
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen illuminated by spotlights on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, Saturday, May 4, 2024 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, Monday, May 6, 2024 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is the first launch with astronauts of the Boeing CFT-100 spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky) (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
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The CFT Starliner being integrated to ULA’s Atlas V rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida on April 16, 2024. (Boeing)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Boeing is troubleshooting a new issue with its Starliner spacecraft before the company tries again to launch two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.
The first attempt to launch NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams last week ended in a scrub after a faulty liquid oxygen valve on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket required replacing. ULA replaced the valve over the weekend, and the rocket is in the hangar at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
With the delay, the astronauts returned to Houston to spend time with their families before another possible launch attempt on May 21 at 4:43 p.m. ET.
Boeing is working on an issue with a small helium leak detected on the spacecraft’s service module. Starliner’s propulsion system uses helium.
“NASA and Boeing are developing spacecraft testing and operational solutions to address the issue,” Boeing said. “As a part of the testing, Boeing will bring the propulsion system up to flight pressurization just as it does prior to launch, and then allow the helium system to vent naturally to validate existing data and strengthen flight rationale.”
If the issue is resolved, the astronauts will return to Kennedy Space Center in the coming days.
Crew Flight Test marks final milestone
Boeing’s Starliner capsule lands safely back on Earth after visiting the International Space Station
The liftoff will begin the final test for Boeing’s Starliner, known as the Crew Flight Test (CFT), to certify the spacecraft to fly NASA astronauts to and from the space station.
In 2014, NASA awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to fly astronauts to the ISS with commercial spacecraft. SpaceX began flying NASA astronauts to the space station in 2020.
Starliner was set to launch Williams and Wilmore last summer, but Boeing managers revealed new issues with the spacecraft after further examining data from Starliner’s second uncrewed orbital flight test in May 2022.
When it happens, the astronauts will spend about a week on the International Space Station testing Starliner’s systems before returning to Earth.
A successful CFT will culminate in a soft landing of the Starliner spacecraft in the Southwest desert.