Only 4 minutes left before launch: takeoff of Boeing Starliner spacecraft canceled due to technical problem

The takeoff of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft was canceled on Saturday June 1, 2024 less than four minutes from the time of launch, due to a technical problem not immediately clearly identified , announced NASA.

This is the second postponement of takeoff in less than a month for this mission, which should allow Starliner to transport NASA astronauts to the ~60 for the first time ~strong> International Space Station (ISS).

Countdown stopped 4 minutes before launch

Takeoff was scheduled for Saturday at 12:25 p.m. from Cape Canaveral in Florida (4:25 p.m. GMT). NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two space veterans, were installed aboard the Starliner capsule placed atop an Atlas V rocket from the ULA group.

But the countdown was stopped at the last moment by a system that was triggered automatically, for a reason still unknown, explained NASA.

Teams from ULA, Boeing and NASA then began putting the rocket into a safe configuration so that the two astronauts could exit.

Fallback dates for takeoff are theoretically possible on Sunday, as well as next Wednesday or Thursday, but the analysis of the problem encountered will have to be carried out before being able to announce a new date.

Ten years ago, NASA ordered two new vehicles from the American companies Boeing and SpaceX to transport its astronauts to the Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has already been playing this role of space taxi for four years.

Already shaken by safety problems on its planes, Boeing is gambling its reputation on this test mission, which must serve to demonstrate that its ship is safe before starting regular missions to the ISS .

For NASA, the stakes are also high: having a second vehicle would allow it to better manage possible emergency situations.

New reverse

The cancellation on Saturday is a new setback for this mission, which has already fallen years behind schedule.

At the beginning of May, the takeoff had already been canceled at the last moment due to a problem with a valve on the rocket, which has since been changed.

A small helium leak was then discovered on one of the ship's thrusters. But Boeing and NASA decided not to repair it, which would require dismantling Starliner.

"We really think we can handle this leak", Steve Stich, U.S. trade program manager, said Friday. manned flights at NASA. It did not expand during preparations for the flight Saturday morning, the agency said.

These setbacks were only the latest in a series of unpleasant surprises.

In 2019, during a first unmanned test, the spacecraft could not be placed on the correct trajectory and returned without reaching the ISS. Then in 2021, a problem with blocked valves on the capsule led to the postponement of a new attempt.

The empty vehicle finally managed to reach the ISS in May 2022.

Other problems discovered subsequently, particularly on the parachutes braking the capsule during its re-entry into the atmosphere, again caused delays.

Urine Pump

Butch Wilmore, 61, and Suni Williams, 58, have already been to the ISS twice, each aboard the old American space shuttle and then a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

But this time it is about testing a brand new vehicle, this example of which has been named Calypso, in homage to Commander Cousteau's ship. Both came from the US Navy, they actively participated in its development.

The ship must also take with it equipment added at the last minute: enough to repair the system allowing the astronauts' urine to be recycled into water in the ISS.

A pump suddenly stopped working this week, and urine must be stored on board in the meantime, but these capacities are limited.

Handful of Ships

Only a handful of American ships have carried astronauts in the past.

After the shutdown of the space shuttles in 2011, NASA astronauts had to travel aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

It was to put an end to this dependence that in 2014, the American space agency signed a contract worth 4.2 billion dollars with Boeing and 2.6 billion with SpaceX for the development of new ships.

To everyone's surprise, SpaceX largely beat Boeing by transporting its first astronauts to the ISS in 2020.

Once Starliner is operational, NASA wishes to alternate between SpaceX and Boeing flights.