Starliner manned debut delayed to no earlier than June 1

May 23. () –

The first flight with astronauts of Boeing’s Starliner ship, bound for the International Space Station, continues to accumulate delays after a helium leak in the service module.

Teams from NASA, Boeing and ULA (United Launch Alliance), which is providing the Atlas V rocket, are working toward a launch opportunity on Saturday, June 1, with additional opportunities on Sunday, June 2, Wednesday, June 5 and Thursday June 6. There have already been six delays since the aborted launch on May 6. The last scheduled date had been May 25.

Work continues to evaluate Starliner’s performance and redundancy following the discovery of the “small” helium leak. As part of this work, and unrelated with current leakage remaining stableteams are in the process of completing a follow-up propulsion system assessment to understand the potential impacts of the helium system in some Starliner return scenarios.

NASA will also conduct a review of the failed launch of last May 6, due then to a problem with the “pressure regulation valve in the liquid oxygen tank of the Centaur upper stage of the Atlas V rocket.”

“There has been a great deal of exceptional analysis and testing over the past two weeks by the joint NASA, Boeing and ULA teams to replace the Centaur’s self-regulating valve and troubleshoot Starliner Service Module helium manifold leak issues. “, said it’s a statement Steve Stich, NASA Commercial Crew program manager. “It has been important that we take our time to understand all the complexities of each topicincluding redundant capabilities of the Starliner propulsion system and any implications for our Interim Human Qualification Certification.”

Meanwhile, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams They continue to practice in Starliner simulators to prepare for the flight. The crew remains in quarantine and will fly back to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the new launch date approaches.

Starliner is the result of the contract that NASA signed with Boeing and Space X to transport its astronauts to the International Space Station. While Space X’s Crew Dragon has been flying astronauts regularly to the orbital complex since May 2020, Boeing’s Starliner has suffered years of delays.

This capsule has been launched only twice to date, on uncrewed test flights to the orbital laboratory. Starliner suffered several problems on the first mission, which launched in December 2019, and failed to reach the orbital complex as planned. But he achieved it on his second attempt, in May 2022.

Externally similar to the Orion spacecraft, the reusable Starliner capsule has a diameter of 4.56 meters and is Designed to be able to transport up to seven peopleremain in orbit for up to seven months and be reused in up to ten missions.