(CNN) — Although the long-awaited crewed maiden voyage of Boeing’s Starliner was scheduled to launch this Saturday, that date is no longer on the table, and NASA has not immediately named a new one.
“The team has been in meetings for two consecutive days, evaluating the justification for the flight, system performance and redundancy,” NASA said in a statement. “There is still work ahead in these areas and the next possible launch opportunity is being discussed.”
The update comes after several previous delays this month and a week after Starliner mission teams reported a small helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module. They traced the leak to a part called a flange on a single reaction control system booster, where helium is used to allow the boosters to ignite.
Just a few days ago, NASA announced that teams were aiming to launch no earlier than May 25, and said the extra time before launch would give specialists more time to evaluate the problem, although tests up to that point They had found that the leak did not pose a threat to the mission.
“Pressure tests conducted on May 15 on the spacecraft’s helium system showed that the flange leak is stable and would not pose a risk at that level during flight,” the space agency said in a news release. on Friday. “The tests also indicated that the rest of the propulsion system is effectively sealed throughout the service module. “Boeing teams are working to develop operating procedures that ensure the system retains sufficient performance capability and adequate redundancy during flight.”
This mission, called Crewed Flight Test, could be the final major milestone before NASA deems Boeing’s spacecraft ready for routine operations as part of the federal agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
The historic crewed flight was about two hours from liftoff on May 6 when it was canceled due to a problem with the valve on the top of the Atlas V rocket that Starliner will carry into space.
The NASA astronauts who will crew the mission and spend a week at the International Space Station, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, were in pre-flight quarantine, but returned to Houston on May 10 to spend time with their families, Boeing said. last week.
“NASA will share more details once we have a clearer path forward,” the space agency said in its latest statement.
Boeing’s historic goals
NASA astronauts Suni Williams (left) Butch Wilmore pose after arriving at the Kennedy Space Center April 25, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Credit: Terry Renna/AP.
The Manned Flight Test has been a decade in development: this will be the culmination of Boeing’s efforts to develop a spacecraft worthy of transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station under NASA’s commercial program.
The launch would mark only the sixth maiden voyage of a manned spacecraft in U.S. history, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a news conference earlier this month.
“It started with [el programa] “Mercury, then Gemini, then Apollo, the space shuttle, then Dragon (from SpaceX) and now Starliner,” he said.
Boeing designed the Starliner to rival SpaceX’s prolific Crew Dragon capsule and would join NASA’s push to collaborate with private industry partners to expand U.S. options for transporting astronauts to the International Space Station.
Once on board, Williams will also make history as the first woman to join such a mission.
A rocky start
Development delays, test flight problems and other costly setbacks slowed Starliner’s path to the launch pad. Meanwhile, Boeing’s rival in NASA’s commercial crew program, SpaceX, became the go-to transportation provider for the space agency’s astronauts.
The launch was scheduled for May 6, with Williams and Wilmore already in their seats aboard the Starliner capsule, when engineers encountered a problem and halted the launch.
The United Launch Alliance team, which builds the Atlas V rocket, identified a pressure regulating valve on a liquid oxygen tank that needed to be replaced. Since that episode, the valve has been replaced, but the new problem with helium leaking into the Boeing spacecraft atop the rocket is causing further delays.
If the spacecraft launches next week as planned, the ship and the astronauts inside will separate from the Atlas V rocket after reaching orbit and begin firing their own engines. The Starliner will likely spend more than 24 hours gradually making its way toward the space station.
Williams and Wilmore will spend about a week aboard the orbital laboratory, joining the seven astronauts and cosmonauts already on board, while the Starliner remains docked outside.
The two will then return home aboard the same Starliner capsule, which is expected to parachute and land at one of several designated locations throughout the southwestern United States.
— CNN’s Jackie Wattles and Ashley Strickland contributed to this post.
