The launch of Boeing’s first manned space mission was canceled on Monday with about two hours left before takeoff to the International Space Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral, United States.
The reason for the cancellation is due to failures in one of the valves of the Atlas V launch rocket, from the private firm United Launch Alliance (ULA), on which Boeing’s Starliner ship is mounted, NASA reported.
The decision to cancel the takeoff was made by the launch manager for ULA, Tom Hetter III, and, according to the US space agency, the teams will check one of the oxygen valves of the Atlas V, where the origin apparently lies. of the technical failure.
«NASA’s first priority is safety. We will go when we are ready,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who confirmed the cancellation in this way.
The Starliner was scheduled to take off tonight at 10:34 p.m. local time (4:34 a.m. CET on Tuesday), from a launch complex at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
No date for new attempt
Theoretically, a new takeoff attempt could take place on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday are also possible, although no new date has been announced by NASA and the private firm.
Boeing’s CFT (Crew Flight Test) mission aims to achieve the necessary certifications from NASA to be able to begin operating as the second provider of crew and cargo transportation to the so-called orbital laboratory, a service that it has officially provided since 2020. the SpaceX firm.
Today’s cancellation adds to a series of setbacks that the Starliner has recorded, which managed to fly to the ISS in a first test mission, without a crew in May 2022, after two failed attempts in 2019 and 2021.
#NASA #canceled #launch #Boeing #Starliner #safety #reasons #Diario #Página
