On the evening of Monday (May 6th) local time, the United States Joint Launch Alliance (ULA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the cancellation of the Starliner, which was originally scheduled to be launched on the same day, due to technical issues.
According to NASA's previous plan, Boeing's CST-100 Starliner was originally scheduled to be launched from Florida on May 6th at 22:34 Eastern Time (May 7th at 10:34 AM Beijing Time) aboard NASA's Atlas V carrier rocket.
The United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The interstellar plane will transport two senior astronauts who are nearly 60 years old to the International Space Station and return to Earth in a week. It should be emphasized that this is the first manned test flight of Boeing's interstellar aircraft, which is of great significance to this airline that has recently been embroiled in numerous scandals.
But after the two astronauts boarded the interstellar plane and there was still about an hour and a half before the scheduled launch time, ULA's launch director Tom Heter III made the decision to halt the launch operation.
Afterwards, NASA also announced the cancellation of the launch plan for the interstellar aircraft that day. Teams are evaluating the issue with the oxygen release valve of the Centaur in Atlas V. Astronauts have left the interstellar aircraft and will return to the crew quarters.
Not long before the release, ULA updated a statement stating that due to high caution for flight and crew safety, we have cancelled the launch attempt today due to issues with Centaur's liquid oxygen self regulating electromagnetic pressure relief valve. The team needs more time to conduct a comprehensive evaluation, so the next launch attempt will not be earlier than May 10th.
Boeing is hit hard again
In fact, delays in space launches are not uncommon. During NASA's live broadcast, a commentator expressed gratitude for discovering such issues on the ground, as "the last thing you want to see is dealing with these issues in space.". But for Boeing, delaying the launch is undoubtedly a new blow to the company's credibility.
On the one hand, Boeing's progress in space is far behind that of SpaceX, a subsidiary of Musk, both of which received a contract from NASA in 2014. However, as of now, the number of successful manned missions of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has reached double digits, and Boeing has not yet opened its doors.
Four years ago, SpaceX completed NASA's first manned mission and has since provided regular flight services to NASA. Before the launch of the interstellar aircraft, Musk wrote on social media, "Although Boeing received a $4.2 billion contract to develop the astronaut module, SpaceX, which received only $2.6 billion in funding, completed the mission four years earlier."
Musk pointed out that SpaceX's first and second generation Dragon spacecraft had completely different designs. He believes that the reason Boeing lags far behind is because the company has too many "non-technical" personnel.
On the other hand, this is also reflected in the fact that the interstellar aircraft spacecraft experienced multiple failures during testing, which is somewhat similar to the reliability and safety issues that Boeing has recently faced.
Since the beginning of the year, Boeing has continuously encountered safety issues, causing public concern and leading to increasing investigations by regulatory authorities. The most well-known one is the "door drop" accident in January: an emergency hatch of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft fell off in mid air.