Joel Kowsky/NASA
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on top, will return to the Vertical Integration Facility for a valve replacement.
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The long-awaited first crewed mission of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will be delayed by more than a week after engineers identified a problem that halted preparations for Monday’s launch.
The next opportunity for Starliner to take off on its maiden voyage from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is at 6:16 p.m. ET on May 17.
Veteran NASA astronauts Sunny Williams and Butch Wilmore had already taken their seats aboard the Starliner capsule when the operations team called for a cleanup Monday night about two hours before liftoff.
The decision came after the United Launch Alliance team that assembled the Atlas V rocket that will carry the Starliner into space identified a problem with a valve on the rocket’s second stage, or upper section.
Sometimes the valves can get into a position where they start to “buzz,” oscillating or opening and closing rapidly, said Tori Bruno, CEO of United Launch Alliance. Some buzz is OK, but too much can cause valve damage, Bruno added.
After Williams and Wilmore were safely removed from the Starliner capsule Monday night, the United Launch Alliance team experimented with opening and closing the hum source, a valve to regulate the pressure of the liquid oxygen tank on the rocket’s upper stage. More oscillations occurred during the process of removing fuel from the rocket.
The team performed a thorough examination of the flap on Tuesday.
“After evaluating the valve’s history, data signatures from the launch experience, and assessing the risks of continued use, the ULA team determined that the valve exceeded its qualifications, and mission managers agreed to remove and replace the valve,” according to an update , shared by NASA.
The decision to replace the valve means the rocket will have to be returned from the launch pad on Wednesday and to the Vertical Integration Facility at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
While replacing the valve, the team will also perform leak checks and other functional checks to ensure the rocket is ready for a potential launch attempt on May 17.
In the meantime, Wilmore and Williams will remain in crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center and remain in quarantine prior to launch to protect their health.
Before the valve problem arose, the Starliner — which Boeing designed to rival SpaceX’s prolific Crew Dragon capsule — was scheduled to lift off for its first crewed test at 10:34 p.m. ET Monday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
That mission, called the Crew Flight Test, could be the last major milestone before NASA judges Boeing’s spacecraft ready for routine operations as part of the federal agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The Starliner will join SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in NASA’s push to collaborate with private industry partners, expanding the US’s ability to transport astronauts to the International Space Station.
Terry Rena/AP
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, right, and Sunny Williams will remain in quarantine until launch.
Williams and Wilmore have ventured into space on two previous trips aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle and Russia’s Soyuz missions.
“They’re checking a lot of the systems: the life support, the manual controls,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a press conference Friday. “That’s why we brought two test pilots on board – and of course Butch and Sunny’s CVs are extensive.”
The launch will mark just the sixth first flight of a crewed spacecraft in US history, Nelson noted: “It started with Mercury, then Gemini, then Apollo, the Space Shuttle, then (SpaceX’s) Dragon – and now Starliner. ”
Williams will also become the first woman to join such a mission.
If all goes according to plan after launch, the spacecraft – carrying the astronauts – will separate from the Atlas V rocket after reaching orbit and start firing its own engines. The Starliner will then spend more than 24 hours gradually traveling to the space station.
Williams and Wilmore will spend about a week aboard the orbiting laboratory, joining the seven astronauts and cosmonauts already aboard while the Starliner remains docked outside.
The two will then return home aboard the same Starliner capsule, which is expected to parachute to a landing in one of several designated locations in the southwestern United States.
