NASA and Boeing today launched the private firm’s first manned space missionafter the cancellation last Saturday less than four minutes before takeoff and the several previous cancellations.
The private firm’s Starliner spacecraft, with NASA astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams on board, took off at 14:52 GMT this Wednesday from a platform at the Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA).
This Wednesday’s takeoff was announced after the cancellation of last Saturday’s takeoff due to a technical problem identified at the base of the launch platform.
The Starliner is already traveling to the International Space Station (ISS)powered by an Atlas V rocket from the United Launch Alliance (ULA) company.
Mission managers found last Saturday that the problem originated in a chassis that supplies power to computer cards related to the Atlas V rocket, a chassis that was already replaced on Sunday.
“ULA has completed functional checks on the new chassis and cards, and all hardware is operating normally,” NASA said in a statement.
Mission managers quickly ruled out the possibility of sending the spacecraft on Sunday, after Saturday’s cancellation, and over the weekend they worked to be able to launch on Wednesday.
Last weekend was not the first cancellation of the takeoff of this missionwhich in general has suffered several delays.
On May 6, the Starliner was preparing to rise towards the ISS from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, but about two hours before launch the operation was suspended after an anomaly was discovered in a liquid oxygen tank on the ISS. Atlas V, from ULA.
Subsequently, a small helium leak was discovered in the Starliner’s service module, which led to further postponements.
The success of the CFT mission will allow Boeing to obtain the necessary certifications from NASA with a view to operating as a second provider of cargo and crew transportation to the ISS.
Boeing and SpaceX have signed million-dollar contracts with NASA to provide this service and to date only the second has been able to meet the objective.
