In this photo provided by NASA, astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams inspect safety hardware aboard the International Space Station on August 9, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

NASA decided on Saturday (August 24, 2024) it’s too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing’s troubled new capsule, and they’ll have to wait until next year for a ride home with SpaceX. What should have been a weeklong test flight for the pair will now last more than eight months.

The seasoned pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A cascade of vexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern as engineers conducted tests and debated what to do about the trip back.

After almost three months, the decision finally came down from NASA’s highest ranks on Saturday (August 24, 2024). Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams will come back in a SpaceX spacecraft in February. Their empty Starliner capsule will undock in early September and attempt to return on autopilot.

As Starliner’s test pilots, the pair should have overseen this critical last leg of the journey, with touchdown in the U.S. desert.

“A test flight by nature is neither safe nor routine,” said NASA Administration Bill Nelson. “And so the decision… is a commitment to safety.”

“This has not been an easy decision, but it is absolutely the right one,” added NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free.

It was a blow to Boeing, adding to the safety concerns plaguing the company on its airplane side. Boeing had counted on Starliner’s first crew trip to revive the troubled program after years of delays and ballooning costs. The company had insisted Starliner was safe based on all the recent thruster tests both in space and on the ground.

Boeing did not participate in Saturday’s news conference by NASA but released a statement: “Boeing continues to focus, first and foremost, on the safety of the crew and spacecraft. We are executing the mission as determined by NASA, and we are preparing the spacecraft for a safe and successful uncrewed return.”

Retired Navy captains with previous long-duration spaceflight experience, Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, anticipated surprises when they accepted the shakedown cruise of a new spacecraft, although not quite to this extent.

Before their June 5 launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, they said their families bought into the uncertainty and stress of their professional careers decades ago. During their lone orbital news conference last month, they said they had trust in the thruster testing being conducted. They had no complaints, they added, and enjoyed pitching in with space station work.

Wilmore’s wife, Deanna, was equally stoic in an interview earlier this month with WVLT-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, their home state. She was already bracing for a delay until next February: “You just sort of have to roll with it.”

There were few options.

The SpaceX capsule currently parked at the space station is reserved for the four residents who have been there since March. They will return in late September, their stay extended a month by the Starliner dilemma. NASA said it would be unsafe to squeeze two more into the capsule, except in an emergency.

The docked Russian Soyuz capsule is even tighter, capable of flying only three — two of them Russians wrapping up a yearlong stint.

So Wilmore and Williams will wait for SpaceX’s next taxi flight. It’s due to launch in late September with two astronauts instead of the usual four for a routine six-month stay. NASA yanked two to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return flight in late February.

NASA said no serious consideration was given to asking SpaceX for a quick stand-alone rescue. Last year, the Russian Space Agency had to rush up a replacement Soyuz capsule for three men whose original craft was damaged by space junk. The switch pushed their mission beyond a year, a U.S. space endurance record still held by Frank Rubio.

Starliner’s woes began long before its latest flight.

Bad software fouled the first test flight without a crew in 2019, prompting a do-over in 2022. Then parachute and other issues cropped up, including a helium leak in the capsule’s propellant system that nixed a launch attempt in May. The leak eventually was deemed to be isolated and small enough to pose no concern. But more leaks sprouted following liftoff, and five thrusters also failed.

All but one of those small thrusters restarted in flight. But engineers remain perplexed as to why some thruster seals appear to swell, obstructing the propellant lines, then revert to their normal size.

These 28 thrusters are vital. Besides needed for space station rendezvous, they keep the capsule pointed in the right direction at flight’s end as bigger engines steer the craft out of orbit. Coming in crooked could result in catastrophe.

With the Columbia disaster still fresh in many minds — the shuttle broke apart during reentry in 2003, killing all seven aboard — NASA embraced open debate over Starliner’s return capability. Dissenting views were stifled during Columbia’s doomed flight, just as they were during Challenger’s in 1986.

Despite Saturday’s decision, NASA isn’t giving up on Boeing.

NASA went into its commercial crew program a decade ago wanting two competing U.S. companies ferrying astronauts in the post-shuttle era. Boeing won the bigger contract: more than $4 billion, compared with SpaceX’s $2.6 billion.

With station supply runs already under its belt, SpaceX aced its first of now nine astronaut flights in 2020, while Boeing got bogged down in design flaws that set the company back more than $1 billion. NASA officials still hold out hope that Starliner’s problems can be corrected in time for another crew flight in another year or so.

Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams’s job was simple when they took off to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5. They were to test-fly the Boeing Starliner crew capsule for the first time with a human crew, assess its performance (including its manual controls), dock with the ISS, and return to the earth in about a week.

But what was supposed to be a straightforward eight-day mission has since turned into an eight-month opera, with NASA now indicating the two astronauts will return only in 2025. Starliner’s helium leak and malfunctioning thrusters have caused this delay. While Boeing remains optimistic, it doesn’t look like the duo will return to the earth onboard Starliner..

ISS’s current occupants

Nine crew members are currently aboard the ISS as part of Expedition 71: Williams, Wilmore, Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Alexander Grebenkin.

Kononenko and Chub arrived at the ISS onboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft as part of Expedition 70 and stayed on for Expedition 71. Caldwell-Dyson joined the ISS crew on March 25 this year, aboard Soyuz MS-25. All three are scheduled to return on September 24 onboard Soyuz MS-25.

Dominick, Barratt, Epps, and Grebenkin arrived at the ISS as part of the SpaceX Crew-8 onboard the Dragon Endeavour on March 5, to join Expedition 71. They are also set to return to Earth in September 2024 using the same craft.

As Expedition 71 prepares for its return journey, its crew will hand over the space station to the members of Expedition 72, which will begin on September 24 with a seven-member crew.

Williams and Wilmore should have left the ISS before Expedition 72 began. Thanks to Starliner’s malfunctioning thrusters, they are currently extending their stay at the ISS.

Supplies to the station

Plenty of food and other supplies are available on the ISS. They were recently restocked, too. On August 14, the Progress MS-28 (a.k.a. Progress 89P) cargo resupply ship launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying about three tonnes of food, clothing, fuel, medical and hygiene supplies, and scientific equipment to the space station. This included 950 kg of propellant, 420 kg of water, and 50 kg of nitrogen to replenish the station’s atmosphere.

Almost 50% of the oxygen from exhaled carbon dioxide is recycled. More oxygen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity generated by solar panels. The main challenge is the smell: body odour can linger in the confined space of the station, making the air unbreathable. To address this, nitrogen from the earth is mixed with the oxygen produced in the station to create fresh air.

A week earlier, on August 4, the Cygnus NG-21 American cargo spacecraft had delivered 3.8 tonnes of cargo and supplies to the ISS, including 1,021 kg of crew supplies (such as food and clothing), 1,220 kg of research equipment, 43 kg of spacewalk equipment, 1,560 kg of hardware for ISS repair and maintenance, and 13 kg of computer resources.

With these replenishments, there is no shortage of essential items such as food, water, oxygen, and other supplies to meet the additional demands.

What the astronauts wear

The space station doesn’t have laundry. In its 22º to 25º C conditions, the astronauts don’t sweat much either and there is hardly any dust. As a result, clothes don’t become dirty even if worn for weeks.

The crew changes exercise gear weekly. Inner clothing is worn once every few days, and shirts, tops, pants, and trousers are worn for weeks. Discarded clothing is stored in a cargo ship along with other refuse generated on the station. When a new resupply ship arrives, the old cargo ship is detached and re-enters the earth’s atmosphere, where it safely burns up.

With two resupply ships docking with the ISS in just weeks, NASA will surely have sent the necessary replacement articles of clothing for Willians and Wilmore.

Jostling for space

The ISS is as big as a six-bedroom villa yet is equipped with only seven permanent sleeping pods. When extra members arrive, there are not enough beds for everyone.

This is not a new problem: there are often more astronauts than bedrooms. In 2009, a record number of 13 members lived on the station. Any surface on the space station — whether a floor, wall or ceiling — is suitable to roll out a sleeping bag. It just has to be fastened to the surface to prevent it from drifting around.

The space station also has three commodes to meet the needs of an 11-member crew. There are no showers and members do not bathe. Water does not rain down in space from the shower; it hovers as droplets. Instead, the crew uses special wipes to sponge the body and keep it clean.

When the crew is at full capacity, exercise schedules become harder to plan. Each astronaut must adhere to a specific exercise regimen to counter muscle and bone loss in orbit. Mission controllers carefully allocate exercise time for each resident.

Welcome to overstay

This isn’t the first time crew members have lingered in the ISS beyond the plan. Minor glitches like in the weather can delay the return of spacecraft, extending the stay for days — as can technical issues.

In 1979, Cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin had to extend their stay from 108 to 175 days in the Soviet space station Salyut when the ship carrying a replacement crew hit a snag. The replacement crew landed safely back down. Fearing the Soyuz spacecraft that took them to the Salyut station might also be faulty, ground controllers called it back empty. Another uncrewed capsule was launched later to retrieve them.

The case of Sergei Krikalev and Alexander Volkov was curious. Krikalev, riding on the Soyuz TM-12, launched on May 19, 1991, and reached Mir station. Volkov joined him in October 1991, ferried by Soyuz TM-13. They both opted to stay back and supervise the Mir space station when its remaining crew returned to the earth. But in the meantime, the Soviet Union was plunged into political chaos and was dissolved on December 26. The duo thus went to space as Soviet citizens and returned on March 25, 1992, as Russian citizens. Krikalev ended up being in space for 311 consecutive days, twice the duration of his original mission.

Following the Columbia tragedy in 2003 that killed seven astronauts, cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin and U.S. astronauts Ken Bowerso and Don Pettit were marooned in ISS. They had to wait two months before an uncrewed replacement Soyuz spacecraft brought them home in May 2003.

A small space rock hit the Soyuz spacecraft that took U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin to the ISS in 2022. The coolant tank developed a puncture and gas leaked out, rendering the craft inoperable. They had to spend 371 days in space instead of the planned 188. A replacement Soyuz craft was sent swiftly, but they remained onboard the ISS until 2023 for operational reasons.

The back-up plan

In the event the Starliner is deemed unfit for the return journey, NASA has a backup plan: the Crew 9 Dragon team, consisting of four members, will replace the current crew. The SpaceX Crew 9 mission is scheduled for launch in September 2024 and return in February 2025.

If Starliner is not fit by then, NASA also plans to ground two crews and launch only a two-member team. Williams and Wilmore will be inducted as the official crew of Expedition 72. During the return journey, they will join Crew 9 Dragon and occupy the two vacant seats.

T.V. Venkateswaran is a science communicator and visiting faculty member at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali.

Indian-origin Sunita Williams has said she is looking forward to meeting the Indian astronauts who will fly to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working on a joint project with the US’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to send an Indian astronaut to space. Of the four astronauts that India had chosen, two will be sent to NASA for training, and one of them will be selected for the space mission, ISRO chief Dr S Somanath told NDTV last month.

The two space agencies have also collaborated for NISAR (NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), a joint Earth-observation mission.

“India and the US have had much success working together to explore the stars. And our future together could not be brighter,” Sunita Williams said in her video message to the US embassy in Delhi on America’s Independence Day from the ISS, which orbits some 400 kilometers above Earth.

Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves for a show-stopping moment! Straight from the International Space Station, we had a special message from the incredible astronauts @Astro_Suni, Tracy Dyson, and @Astro_Jeanette for our space-themed national day celebration in New Delhi last… pic.twitter.com/PsG56LlzVB

— U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) July 11, 2024

She is currently stuck on the ISS due to a problem-plagued Boeing Starliner for almost a month.

“NASA and the ISRO continue to work toward the launch of NISAR, which will launch from India this year to measure changes in our planet’s surface,” she said.

“After returning to Earth, we look forward to meeting Indian astronauts training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Our partnership with India and the countries around the world will help expand humanity’s reach for the sky,” Williams added.

She was joined by her fellow astronauts Tracy C Dyson and Jeanette J Epps.

NASA To Train 2 Indians, Send One Of Them To Space

The ISRO’s work to send an astronaut to space in a joint project with NASA is going on as scheduled, the Indian space agency’s chief Dr S Somanath told NDTV in an exclusive interview on June 29.

Of the four astronauts that India had chosen, two will be sent to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for training, and one of them will be selected for the space mission, he said.

“Similarly, the other two will also get training of a different kind… So all four of them will go through certain levels of training through this programme. Many engineers will also be trained by NASA to handle other aspects of space flight,” Dr Somanath said.

He said the ISRO’s eventual goal is human space flight, and the learnings from the whole programme with NASA will feed into the Indian space agency’s experience in finally sending humans to space.

“When we get the capability, if a head of state wants to fly to space, for example, it must be on our vehicle, from our land. I will wait for our Gaganyaan to be ready, to be proven, to be qualified to do that,” the ISRO chief told NDTV when asked whether key leaders would be eligible to fly to space in the far future.

Washington:

A pair of US astronauts stuck waiting to leave the International Space Station said Wednesday they were confident that the problem-plagued Boeing Starliner they rode up on would soon bring them home, even as significant uncertainties remain.

Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams blasted off on June 5 aboard the brand new spaceship that NASA is hoping to certify to ferry crews to-and-from the orbital outpost.

They docked the following day for what was meant to be roughly a week-long stay, but their return was pushed back because of thruster malfunctions and helium leaks that came to light during the journey.

No date has been set for the return, but NASA officials said Wednesday they were eying “late July.”

Asked during a live press call from the station whether they still had faith in the Starliner team and the spaceship, mission commander Wilmore replied: “We’re absolutely confident.”

“I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem,” added Sunita Williams.

She said they were continuing to enjoy their time aboard the ISS, performing tasks like changing out the pump on a machine that processes urine back into drinking water, and carrying out science experiments such as gene sequencing in the microgravity environment.

They have also tested Starliner as a “safe haven” vehicle in case of problems aboard the ISS and checked out how its life support performs when four people are inside.

Lingering uncertainty

Before Wilmore and Williams can come home, however, engineering teams need to run more simulations of similar thrusters and helium seals on the ground, to better understand the root causes of some of the technical issues Starliner experienced — and modify the way it will fly down, if necessary.

It was known there was one helium leak affecting the spaceship before the launch, but more leaks emerged during the flight. Helium, while non-combustible, provides pressure to the propulsion system.

What’s more, some of Starliner’s thrusters that provide fine maneuvering initially failed to kick in during its approach to the station, delaying docking.

Engineers are not sure why the craft’s computer “deselected” these thrusters, though they were able to restart all but one of them.

In a subsequent press call, Boeing executive Mark Nappi told reporters that the “working theory” for the thruster malfunction was overheating due to excessive firing.

Theories on the cause of the helium leaks ranged from debris entering the propulsion system to Boeing possibly installing seals that were undersized for the task.

NASA and Boeing insist Starliner could fly home in case of an emergency, particularly since the problems affected only certain thrusters that control orientation.

They have no concerns over any of the more powerful thrusters responsible for the “deorbit burn” that will bring the spaceship back.

But much remains unclear — including whether the orientation control thrusters that malfunctioned have become degraded, which would make it necessary to rely on other thrusters during descent, NASA official Steve Stich said.

He insisted that NASA wasn’t yet considering bringing Williams and Wilmore back on a SpaceX Crew Dragon, in what would amount to a major humiliation for the aerospace giant Boeing, whose reputation has taken a hit in recent years over the safety crisis affecting its commercial jets.

“The prime option today is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner,” said Stich, while conceding that a return flight on a SpaceX spaceship can’t be ruled out.

In 2014, both SpaceX and Boeing were awarded multibillion-dollar contracts by NASA to develop crewed spaceships after the retirement of the Space Shuttle program. SpaceX carried out a successful crewed test in 2020 and has flown dozens of people since.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying two astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner-1 Crew Flight Test (CFT), is launched on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. on June 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Boeing launched astronauts for the first time on June 5, belatedly joining SpaceX as a second taxi service for NASA.

A pair of NASA test pilots blasted off aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule for the International Space Station, the first to fly the new spacecraft.

The trip by Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams was expected to take 25 hours, with an arrival Thursday. They will spend just over a week at the orbiting lab before climbing back into Starliner for a remote desert touchdown in the western U.S. on June 14.

“Let’s get going!” Wilmore called out a few minutes before liftoff.

Half an hour later, he and Williams were safely in orbit and giving chase to the space station. Back at Cape Canaveral, the relieved launch controllers stood and applauded. After all the trouble leading up to Wednesday’s launch, including two scrapped countdowns, everything went smoothly before and during liftoff, prompting congratulations from SpaceX’s Elon Musk and others.

“Today it all lined up,” said Boeing program manager Mark Nappi.

Years late because of spacecraft flaws, Starliner’s crew debut comes as the company struggles with unrelated safety issues on its airplane side.

Wilmore and Williams — retired Navy captains and former space station residents — stressed repeatedly before the launch that they had full confidence in Boeing’s ability to get it right with this test flight. Crippled by bad software, Starliner’s initial test flight in 2019 without a crew had to be repeated before NASA would let its astronauts strap in. The 2022 do-over went much better, but parachute problems later cropped up and flammable tape had to be removed from the capsule.

Wednesday’s launch was the third attempt with astronauts since early May, coming after a pair of rocket-related problems, most recently last weekend. A small helium leak in the spacecraft’s propulsion system also caused delays, but remained extremely low and manageable.

“It’s just a tough endeavor to get to flight and huge kudos to the entire team for getting there,” said Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager.

Boeing was hired alongside Elon Musk’s SpaceX a decade ago to ferry NASA’s astronauts to and from the space station. The space agency wanted two competing U.S. companies for the job in the wake of the space shuttles’ retirement, paying $4.2 billion to Boeing and just over half that to SpaceX, which refashioned the capsule it was using to deliver station supplies.

SpaceX launched astronauts into orbit in 2020, becoming the first private business to achieve what only three countries — Russia, the U.S. and China — had mastered. It has taken nine crews to the space station for NASA and three private groups for a Houston company that charters flights.

The liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station was the 100th of an Atlas V for rocket maker United Launch Alliance. It was the first ride for astronauts on an Atlas rocket since John Glenn’s Mercury era more than 60 years ago; the rocket usually launches satellites and other spacecraft.

Despite the Atlas V’s perfect record, the human presence cranked up the tension for the scores of NASA and Boeing employees gathered at Cape Canaveral and Mission Control in Houston.

Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Dragon are designed to be fully autonomous and reusable. Wilmore and Williams occasionally will take manual control of Starliner on their way to the space station, to check out its systems. The only snag early in the flight involved the capsule’s cooling system. More water was used than expected before the radiators took over in orbit. The tank will be refilled before the ride home.

If the mission goes well, NASA will alternate between SpaceX and Boeing for taxi flights, beginning next year. The backup pilot for this test flight, Mike Fincke, will strap in for Starliner’s next trip.

“This is exciting. We built up to this moment for years and years, and it finally happened,” Fincke said from neighboring Kennedy Space Center. “I feel like the whole planet was cheering for them.”

New Delhi:

Boeing’s Starliner space capsule was set for its inaugural test flight with NASA astronauts, including Indian-origin Sunita Williams, on board. However, the launch was automatically halted mere minutes before liftoff due to a computer abort system, marking another indefinite delay for the project.

The countdown to launch had reached the final stages when the automatic abort was triggered by the ground system computer responsible for coordinating the last moments before liftoff. With just three minutes and 50 seconds left on the clock, the system issued a command that stopped the launch sequence. According to officials, the Starliner capsule itself appeared to be in good condition.

History Of Challenges

This latest postponement is part of a series of last-minute technical issues that teams had been working through. Initially, NASA and Boeing planned for a potential launch window today. However, NASA decided against it, stating that additional time was needed to assess the issue thoroughly. The next available windows are June 5 and June 6.

“We got really close today,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, as quoted by news agency Reuters. “I know it’s a little disappointing, we were all excited. This is kind of the way spaceflight is.”

Tory Bruno, CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA), the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin that owns the Atlas V rocket, suggested that the issue could be a hardware malfunction or a network communication problem between the three computers managing the automated launch systems.

Boeing’s journey with the Starliner has been fraught with challenges. The first attempt to send an uncrewed Starliner to the ISS in 2019 failed due to software and engineering problems. A second attempt in 2022 succeeded, setting the stage for this first crewed test mission. Previous delays, including a faulty pressure valve and various engineering issues, have already pushed the timeline back significantly.

Boeing’s Hopes

NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams were strapped into their seats for several hours before the mission was halted. Technicians safely assisted them out of the capsule, and they were returned to quarantine to await the next launch attempt. This mission is critical for Boeing, as it aims to establish the Starliner as a reliable option for ferrying astronauts to the ISS and beyond, competing against SpaceX’s Crew Dragon missions.

The Starliner program, under a $4.2 billion contract with NASA, has seen its budget swell to around $4.5 billion due to various setbacks. For Boeing, success with the Starliner is crucial, not only for its space ventures but also to recover from crises in its commercial aeroplane manufacturing operations. NASA, on the other hand, views the Starliner as a key component of its strategy to diversify its astronaut transport options, which is crucial for its broader Artemis program aimed at returning humans to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

Once launched, the Starliner is expected to dock with the ISS approximately 24 hours later. The mission includes tasks such as testing manual control capabilities and evaluating the spacecraft’s performance as a potential safe haven. After about a week at the ISS, the astronauts will return to Earth, landing with the help of parachutes and airbags in the US Desert Southwest.

A launch pad and a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying two astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner-1 Crew Flight Test (CFT) is seen.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Last-minute computer trouble nixed the June 1 launch attempt for Boeing’s first astronaut flight, the latest in a string of delays over the years.

Two NASA astronauts were strapped in the company’s Starliner capsule when the countdown automatically was halted at 3 minutes and 50 seconds by the computer system that controls the final minutes before liftoff.

Also read | Chinese spacecraft successfully lands on moon’s far side

With only a split second to take off, there was no time to work the latest problem and the launch was called off.

Technicians raced to the pad to help astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams out of the capsule atop the fully fueled Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Within an hour of the launch abort, the hatch was reopened.

The team can’t get to the computers to troubleshoot the problem until the rocket is drained of all its fuel, said Tory Bruno, CEO for the rocket maker, United Launch Alliance.

Bruno said one of the three redundant computers located near the rocket at the pad was sluggish. All three must work properly to proceed with a launch, he said.

Depending on what needs to be fixed, the next launch attempt could be as early as Wednesday. If it doesn’t blast off this coming week, then that would be it until mid-June in order to move the rocket off the pad and replace batteries.

“This is the business that we’re in,” Boeing’s Mark Nappi said. “Everything’s got to work perfectly.”

It was the second launch attempt. The first try on May 6 was delayed for leak checks and rocket repairs.

NASA wants a backup to SpaceX, which has been flying astronauts since 2020.

Boeing should have launched its first crew around the same time as SpaceX, but its first test flight with no one on board in 2019 was plagued by severe software issues and never made it to the space station.

A redo in 2022 fared better, but parachute problems and flammable later caused more delays. A small helium leak in the capsule’s propulsion system last month came on top of a rocket valve issue.

More valve trouble cropped up two hours before Saturday’s planned liftoff, but the team used a backup circuit to get the ground-equipment valves working to top off the fuel for the rocket’s upper stage. Launch controllers were relieved to keep pushing ahead, but the computer system known as the ground launch sequencer ended the effort.

“Of course, this is emotionally disappointing,” NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, the backup pilot, said from neighboring Kennedy Space Center shortly after the countdown was halted.

But he said delays are part of spaceflight. “We’re going to have a great launch in our future.”

New Delhi:

Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, the poster girl for women aspiring to fly into space, was set to reach for the skies again today in a brand-new spacecraft, but it did not happen as planned.

The launch into space on the Boeing Starliner was “scrubbed” or called off just three minutes and fifty-one seconds before lift-off. It is now postponed for another day. Both astronauts – Ms Williams and Butch Wilmore – were seated in the new Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which was on its maiden mission. It was to lift off using the Atlas V rocket from Florida, USA, at 10 pm, but it was postponed minutes before liftoff.

This is the second scrub for the Boeing Starliner spaceship. Both astronauts are safe. The Atlas V rocket is also safe. As of now, NASA estimates it will take at least 24 hours to try again, but no new liftoff time has been announced.

A technical glitch was detected by the ground launch sequencer, the computer that monitors the health of the rocket. The astronauts will now exit the Starliner capsule and return to the crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center.

An earlier attempt on May 7 was postponed hours before liftoff due to a technical glitch. A NASA statement said, “Boeing, United Launch Alliance, and NASA scrubbed the previous launch opportunity on May 7 [India time] due to a suspect oxygen relief valve on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur second stage. Since then, teams have removed and replaced the valve, and completed an assessment of Starliner’s performance and redundancy after discovering a small helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module.”

This would have been the third space travel for the Indian-origin astronaut, who has already spent 322 days in space and held a record for the maximum number of hours of spacewalk by a woman, before being overtaken by Peggy Whitson.

This time, she could make history as the first woman to fly on a maiden crewed mission of a new space shuttle.

Ms Williams went on her first space voyage on December 9, 2006, which lasted until June 22, 2007. While on board, she established a world record for women by going on four spacewalks that added up to 29 hours and 17 minutes.

The 59-year-old had admitted to being a bit nervous but said she had no jitters about flying in a new spacecraft. She had helped design the Starliner, working with engineers from NASA and Boeing. “When I reach the International Space Station, it will be like going back home,” she said.

New Delhi:

Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, the poster girl for women aspiring to fly into space, was set to reach for the skies again today in a brand-new spacecraft, but it did not happen as planned.

The launch into space on the Boeing Starliner was “scrubbed” or called off just three minutes and fifty-one seconds before lift-off. It is now postponed for another day. Both astronauts – Ms Williams and Butch Wilmore – were seated in the new Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which was on its maiden mission. It was to lift off using the Atlas V rocket from Florida, USA, at 10 pm, but it was postponed minutes before liftoff.

This is the second scrub for the Boeing Starliner spaceship. Both astronauts are safe. The Atlas V rocket is also safe. As of now, NASA estimates it will take at least 24 hours to try again, but no new liftoff time has been announced.

A technical glitch was detected by the ground launch sequencer, the computer that monitors the health of the rocket. The astronauts will now exit the Starliner capsule and return to the crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center.

An earlier attempt on May 7 was postponed hours before liftoff due to a technical glitch. A NASA statement said, “Boeing, United Launch Alliance, and NASA scrubbed the previous launch opportunity on May 7 [India time] due to a suspect oxygen relief valve on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur second stage. Since then, teams have removed and replaced the valve, and completed an assessment of Starliner’s performance and redundancy after discovering a small helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module.”

This would have been the third space travel for the Indian-origin astronaut, who has already spent 322 days in space and held a record for the maximum number of hours of spacewalk by a woman, before being overtaken by Peggy Whitson.

This time, she could make history as the first woman to fly on a maiden crewed mission of a new space shuttle.

Ms Williams went on her first space voyage on December 9, 2006, which lasted until June 22, 2007. While on board, she established a world record for women by going on four spacewalks that added up to 29 hours and 17 minutes.

The 59-year-old had admitted to being a bit nervous but said she had no jitters about flying in a new spacecraft. She had helped design the Starliner, working with engineers from NASA and Boeing. “When I reach the International Space Station, it will be like going back home,” she said.

Washington:

Boeing’s first Starliner mission carrying astronauts into space has been delayed again – until at least May 21 – over an issue with the spacecraft’s propulsion system, the company said on Tuesday.

Starliner’s mission carrying two NASA astronauts had been scheduled for liftoff from Florida last week until a technical issue with its Atlas 5 rocket prompted a delay to Friday, May 17, the latest postponement for a program years behind schedule and more than $1.5 billion over budget.

A new technical issue, now concerning Starliner itself, has prompted another postponement to at least next Tuesday, Boeing said in a statement.

“Starliner teams are working to resolve a small helium leak detected in the spacecraft’s service module,” Boeing said, adding that engineers traced the leak to a component on one of the propulsion system’s 28 control thrusters that are used for maneuvering in Earth’s orbit.

Boeing has been developing Starliner for more than a decade to provide NASA with a second U.S. spacecraft capable of ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, built under the same NASA program, first launched astronauts to space in 2020.

Starliner’s latest mission, called the Crewed Flight Test, is due to be the final test before the spacecraft is certified by the U.S. space agency to fly routine astronaut missions to the ISS. Boeing completed an uncrewed Starliner trip to the ISS in 2022 following years of technical and management issues.

NASA officials and Boeing engineers will run tests and try to fix the helium leak before the next possible launch window on May 21 at 4:43 p.m. ET (2043 GMT). Helium is used on Starliner to pressurize the fuel that powers the spacecraft’s thrusters for orbital maneuvering.

The Atlas 5 rocket, built by the Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA), launches Starliner into space. Before attempting to launch Starliner last week, ULA discovered a faulty valve on the Atlas 5 and rolled the rocket off the launchpad to replace the valve.

Sensors on Starliner first detected suspicious traces of helium inside the propulsion system while the spacecraft was on the launchpad last week, but those detections did not raise alarm to engineers at the time, according to a person briefed on the mission operations.

Boeing engineers investigated the helium detections while ULA was replacing the faulty valve on Atlas 5 and determined more testing and scrutiny was needed in order to meet the mission’s strict launch safety criteria, the person said.

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