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From the Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A last-minute computer problem canceled Saturday’s launch attempt for Boeing’s first astronaut flight, the latest in a string of delays over the years.

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

With just a fraction of a second to go until liftoff, there was no time to fix the last problem and the launch was aborted.

Technicians rushed to the pad to help astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams exit the capsule atop a fully fueled Atlas V rocket at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Within an hour of the aborted launch, the hatch was reopened.

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

Bruno said one of the three redundant computers located near the missile pad was slow. All three must work properly to proceed with the launch, he said.

Depending on what needs to be fixed, the next launch attempt could be as early as Wednesday. If it doesn’t launch next week, it will be until mid-June to move the rocket off the pad and replace the batteries.

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

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

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

Boeing was supposed to launch its first crew around the same time as SpaceX, but its first unmanned test flight in 2019 was plagued by serious software problems and never made it to the space station.

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

More problems with the valves occurred two hours before Saturday’s scheduled liftoff, but the team used a backup circuit to get the ground equipment’s valves to operate to refuel the rocket’s upper stage.

Launch controllers were relieved to go ahead, but a computer system known as the Ground Launch Unit aborted the effort.

“Of course, it’s emotionally frustrating,” NASA astronaut Mike Finke, the backup pilot, said from the nearby 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 going forward.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Division is supported by the Science and Education Media Group of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. AP is solely responsible for all content.