Boeing’s Starliner capsule has left the launch pad.
The Starliner and its rocket, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V, lifted off from the pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today (May 8), heading to the on-site assembly building so scientists can replace a misbehaving valve on the spacecraft. The upper stage of the launcher.
However, the duo may be back soon: They are scheduled to launch no earlier than May 17, to begin Starliner’s first-ever astronaut mission, a trial run to the International Space Station (ISS) called the Crew Flight Test (CFT).
Related: Boeing Starliner astronaut’s first flight: Live updates
Teams from @ulalaunch returned the #Starliner and Atlas V rockets to their integration facility to replace a valve in the rocket’s upper stage. NASA’s BoeingSpace crew flight test launch is scheduled for no later than 6:16 PM ET on May 17. More: https://t.co/8Wxbz9eq7h pic.twitter.com/jZmhTU1v1wMay 8, 2024
The CFT was originally supposed to launch on Monday night (May 6), but the mission team called things off about two hours before liftoff after noticing that the oxygen relief valve on Atlas V’s Centaur upper stage was opening and closing rapidly. This repetitive action was audible. Team members described him as “fizz”.
The planned launch was then postponed to no later than Friday (May 10). However, this new target date became unattainable after ULA determined that the buzzer valve needed to be replaced, a process that required the Starliner-Atlas V stack to be returned to its integration facility.
If the CFT does launch on May 17, it will do so at 6:16 PM EST (10:16 PM GMT). When the mission actually launches, you can watch the event live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA.
CFT will send NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams to the International Space Station for a stay of approximately eight days. The mission is designed to certify the Starliner for long-haul flights to the orbiting laboratory, which Boeing will fly under a $4.2 billion contract awarded by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program in 2014.
SpaceX also received a similar deal worth $2.6 billion. Elon Musk’s company has already completed seven operational crewed missions to the International Space Station for NASA using the Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket; It is in the middle of its eighth flight, which launched in March.