NASA cancels the first manned test flight of the “Starliner” spacecraft due to a technical problem

Washington. Shortly before the first manned test flight of the crisis-ridden spaceship ‘Starliner’, the planned launch on Tuesday evening was canceled. US space agency NASA said an oxygen valve on the ‘Atlas V’ rocket needed to be examined. The two NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams left the ‘Starliner’ capsule and returned to their crew quarters at the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida. A new date for the test flight, which had previously been postponed several times, was initially not announced.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore (left) and Suni Williams leave the operations and cashier building. Here the two astronauts still thought everything was going according to plan.

Source: John Raoux/AP

The plan was actually for Wilmore and Williams to take off on the “Starliner” for the first manned test flight to the International Space Station (ISS). They would arrive there on Wednesday and stay for about a week. Before 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 American aircraft manufacturer Boeing, completed its first successful unmanned flight to the ISS 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 far behind schedule. SpaceX boss Elon Musk was able to comment on his Platform X Then don’t hold back: ‘Let us know if you want to borrow a rocket.’

RND/dpa/bab