Boeing to try again to launch first Starliner crewed mission
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[June 05, 2024]
By Joey Roulette
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is set for a third
attempt to fly astronauts to space for the first time on Wednesday, a
much-delayed testing milestone in the aerospace giant's ambitions to
step up its competition with Elon Musk's SpaceX.
The gumdrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner capsule, with two astronauts
aboard, is due for liftoff at 10:52 a.m. ET (1452 GMT) from a launch pad
at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, strapped to an
Atlas V rocket from Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch
Alliance (ULA).
Boeing intends for Starliner to compete with SpaceX's Crew Dragon
capsule, which since 2020 has been NASA's only vehicle for sending ISS
crew members to orbit from U.S. soil. The capsule and its inaugural crew
- NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams -
will be bound for the International Space Station (ISS).
Last-minute issues have pushed back Starliner's first two crewed launch
attempts. A May 6 countdown was halted two hours before liftoff over
three issues that required weeks of extra scrutiny. Another try last
Saturday was halted less than four minutes before liftoff because of a
glitch with a launchpad computer.
ULA engineers replaced a power supply unit for that computer and put
Starliner back on track for launch. The local weather is forecast to be
90% favorable for liftoff, according to U.S. Space Force launch weather
analysts.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jun/05/images/ads/current/graue_sda_042021.png)
The crew is due to spend about a week at the space station before
returning to Earth. Starliner two years ago completed its first test
voyage to ISS and back without astronauts aboard.
The mission is Boeing's final test before NASA can certify Starliner for
routine astronaut flights that would make it the second U.S. ride to
orbit.
Boeing has faced years of Starliner development delays and more than
$1.5 billion in cost overruns, as well as a series of crises involving
the company's 737 MAX jetliners in its centerpiece aviation business.
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![](../images/060524PIX/news_g11.jpg)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket stands on the pad after
launch of two astronauts aboard Boeing's Starliner-1 Crew Flight
Test (CFT) was delayed for technical issues prior to a mission to
the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S.
June 3, 2024. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
The longtime NASA contractor has built modules for the decades-old
ISS and rockets designed to loft astronauts toward the moon. But
Boeing never before built its own operational spacecraft, a feat
complicated by years of software issues, technical glitches and
management shakeups on the Starliner program.
Meanwhile, SpaceX's Crew Dragon has become a dependable taxi to
orbit for NASA. That capsule and Starliner are among the first in a
new generation of privately built spacecraft - seeded with NASA
funding - designed to fly astronauts to low-Earth orbit and the moon
under the U.S. space agency's Artemis program.
NASA has long sought two U.S. rides to the ISS in order to have a
backup, in addition to the joint astronaut flights the agency
conducts with Russia's Soyuz rocket.
Wilmore, 61, is a retired U.S. Navy captain and fighter pilot.
Williams, 58, is a former Navy helicopter test pilot with experience
flying more than 30 different aircraft. They have spent a combined
500 days in space during two ISS missions each.
If the launch is postponed on Wednesday, Boeing could try again on
Thursday. Any delay beyond Thursday could last weeks because of
perishable items that would need to be replaced on Starliner and the
rocket after sitting on the ground for a month. Other missions
scheduled in Cape Canaveral and on the ISS could add to the delays.
(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Will Dunham)
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