Space travel
First manned “Starliner” test flight postponed
In the future, the “Starliner” spacecraft will transport astronauts to the ISS as an alternative to SpaceX’s “Crew Dragon” space capsule. photo
© Joel Kowsky/Nasa/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Everything at a standstill: After technical problems, the test flight of the “Starliner” is delayed once again. The spacecraft is now being checked again – NASA has announced a new launch date.
The US space agency Nasa has the first manned test flight of the crisis-plagued spacecraft “Starliner” postponed after technical problems. The flight should now take off at the earliest on May 17th at 6:16 p.m. local time (May 18th at 12:16 a.m. CEST), NASA announced on Tuesday (local time).
The test flight, which had already been postponed several times, was canceled on Tuesday night shortly before the planned launch due to abnormalities in an oxygen valve on the “Atlas V” rocket. After a thorough check, it was now decided to replace the valve, it said. Further checks will also be carried out at the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida from Wednesday.
Astronauts remain in quarantine
According to NASA, the two NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams will remain in quarantine until the next launch attempt. The plan had actually been for Wilmore and Williams to set off with the “Starliner” on its first manned test flight to the International Space Station (ISS). They were supposed to arrive there this Wednesday and stay for around a week. For the arrival of the “Starliner”, the “Crew Dragon” that was docked there was moved to another docking station on the ISS.
In May 2022, the “Starliner,” developed and built by US aircraft manufacturer Boeing, completed a successful unmanned flight to the ISS for the first time and spent four days there – an important test for the spacecraft. In the future, it will transport astronauts to the ISS as an alternative to SpaceX’s “Crew Dragon” space capsule. However, due to a number of problems, the project is well behind schedule.