Three minutes before takeoff, the countdown of the mission in which astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore were going to test a ship that will be used to travel to the International Space Station was automatically stopped. Trying again this Sunday has been ruled out
It couldn’t be today either. After numerous delays and postponements due to technical problems, NASA has once again postponed the first astronaut test of the spacecraft Starliner what the company is developing Boeing Space under his supervision. It is a vehicle designed to function as a kind of space taxi that takes astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), as the ship already does regularly. Crew Dragon, developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.
Takeoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, was scheduled for this Saturday at 6:25 p.m. (Spanish peninsular time) aboard an Atlas V rocket from the United Launch Alliance (ULA) company. The mission had the green light for launch but at 6:21 p.m., the countdown was stopped for reasons that are still unknown.
Three hours earlier, the veteran NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore, mission commander, and Sunita Williams pilot, had entered the ship to get into their seat and do all the checks prior to takeoff. Minutes later, the director of ULA, Tony Bruro, explained that a problem with some valves on the rocket had been resolved. At 5 p.m., the weather was favorable for the launch and, soon after, the hatch of the ship was closed. But at 6:21 p.m., just three minutes before the scheduled launch time, the countdown stopped. Shortly after, NASA announced that it was aborting the mission. The astronauts have already left the ship and are fine.
As explained by NASA in a statement, the team is investigating the cause why it occurred. an automatic stop (automatic hold) of the launch sequencer (ground launch sequencer). This is the system that follows the programmed sequence of all the commands that have to be sent to the rocket. The computer involved in the failure, therefore, is a component that belongs to the Atlas V rocket, owned by the ULA company.
In a press conference from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, three of those responsible for the mission explained on Saturday that throughout the night they would investigate the cause of the failure and although in that appearance they did not rule out trying again on Sunday, hours later they indicated that the test would not finally be this weekend: “We won’t know what has happened until we have physical access to the computer,” he pointed Tory Bruno president and director of ULA. The head of the Atlas V rocket lowered several possible scenarios, but insisted that until they know what caused the failure, they cannot know when they will try to launch again.
Once Sunday was ruled out, The next possible dates for the release are Wednesday, June 5 and Thursday, June 6.
“We were very close, the team is very professional and when we are ready to take off, we will take off,” he said. Mark Nappi, vice president of Boeing Space and head of the company’s commercial human flight program.
“I know it’s disappointing because we were very excited, but that’s space. “I’ve been doing this for 37 years and every time you have a rocket on the launch pad there is a chance that you will have to abort the takeoff,” acknowledged Steve Stich, head of NASA’s commercial flight program.
10 years to manufacture the ship
10 years ago, NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX to manufacture spacecraft to take their crew to the ISS, while the US agency focused on manufacturing its vehicle to travel to the Moon. Although SpaceX also suffered delays, its ship has been ready since 2020, while Boeing has accumulated a series of problems that have meant that the ship has not yet been tested by astronauts.
In fact, the ship was going to make its first manned test flight this Saturday despite having detected a small helium leak in the na’s propulsion systemSee, it had not been resolved. Those responsible for the mission considered that this small leak did not constitute a security threat, so the mission was scheduled for this Saturday, June 1.
On May 6 (May 7 in Spain), when there were only a couple of hours left for takeoff and the two astronauts were also already inside the capsule, the takeoff was aborted when a failure was detected in a valve on the Atlas V rocket. , specifically, the one that regulates the pressure in the oxygen tank Centaur upper stage liquid.
Because it was decided to replace the affected valve instead of fixing it, after a few days the launch date was set for May 17, but was later postponed again.
Third Starliner flight
If the launch had gone well, the Starliner spacecraft would have docked with the ISS Harmony module on Sunday at 6:50 p.m. (Peninsular time) for an eight-day mission. NASA was going to take advantage of this test flight to bring about 300 kilos of material and food to the ISS crew.
The Starliner’s manned flight will be the ship’s third into space. The first test, without a crew, was carried out in October 2019, but the Starliner was not able to reach the ISS and had to return to Earth.
Yes, it achieved it in the second test, which took place in May 2022, so preparation for the first manned test began. However, this could not be carried out in July 2023 due to several problems identified mainly in the parachute system and wiring, as it was discovered that a tape used in different parts of the ship was flammable.
Until the aborted manned test is successfully carried out this Saturday, NASA will not begin the final process to certify the Starliner spacecraft, the final step for it to become part of the US commercial manned program. To develop this ship, the space agency has given Boeing $4.2 billion while SpaceX received $2.6 billion to manufacture the Crew Dragon.
