CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Boeing will retry Saturday the first launch of its new space capsule with astronauts on board, which has been delayed by leak checks and rocket repairs.
The Starliner capsule is scheduled to take off at noon with a pair of test pilots bound for the International Space Station, where they will spend a week.
The test trip should have been carried out years ago but the problems kept piling up. The latest was a leak that went unnoticed until the first manned launch attempt earlier this month.
NASA wants to have an alternative to SpaceX, which has been ferrying astronauts to and from the orbital outpost for four years.
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket will be in charge of propelling the Boeing capsule from the launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Station.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
