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The maiden crewed launch of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) was delayed yet again after its ship having painstakingly spent years in development. The reason, according to initial comments made over the launch provider ULA's live stream channels, was a faulty valve. This valve became yet another one that displayed off nominal behavior on a spaceflight mission. According to NASA, an oxygen valve on the Centaur second stage of the Atlas V rocket made teams decide to scrub today's launch two hours before liftoff at 8:34 p.m. Eastern time. Depending on what teams find after they go through the data, the next launch attempt could take place tomorrow.
Boeing's Starliner Launch Scrubbed Before Hatch Closure & Ordinance Arming
Today's scrub means that SpaceX's Crew Dragon remains the only spacecraft capable of taking crewed missions to space from U.S. soil. Since its inaugural crewed launch in 2020, SpaceX's ship has flown multiple times to the International Space Station (ISS) and significantly upgraded its design.
Along with being Boeing's first crewed launch under NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), Starliner CFT-1 was also the first time that a second American rocket launch services provider attempted to launch humans to the ISS. ULA's Atlas V, a rocket that has launched 99 times so far, uses the Centaur second stage to transport astronauts to an orbital altitude following maximum dynamic pressure.
According to NASA, an Oxygen scrub valve on the Centaur second stage displayed off nominal behavior. This led to launch director Tom Heter scrubbing the launch two hours before liftoff. The count leading to that point was smooth and did not demonstrate any issues with either the rocket or the spacecraft.
ULA Launch Director Tom Heter III has made the decision to the launch team that launch operations will not continue tonight for #AtlasV and #Starliner.https://t.co/yCCjHu9R5K
— ULA (@ulalaunch) May 7, 2024
After a scrub, teams work to start unloading fuel from the rocket as part of a process to recycle systems to support future operations. Fueling for today's operations started four hours before the scrub, as ULA began to load more than four thousand gallons of liquid oxygen on the Centaur second stage.
Soon after the scrub, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams left their ship. The countdown is developed to support "five, even seven astronauts on Starliner," according to ULA. The time that it takes the crew to leave the ship influences the de-tanking procedures for the rocket, and for the full complement, complete crew egress should take 45 minutes.
Close to the half hour mark after the scrub, ULA had provided few updates apart from the function of the valve. Valves have previously delayed launches for Starliner and NASA's Space Launch System (SLS). Faulty propulsion valves had delayed a Starliner launch in 2021, and NASA was befuddled by anomalous liquid hydrogen readings during the Artemis 1 moon launch in 2022. SpaceX has also faced its own set of problems with the Crew and Cargo Dragon spacecraft.
Today's mission was set to launch with a 95% probability of weather being favorable, unlike SpaceX's inaugural crewed Dragon mission. Dragon DM-2 was scrubbed due to the weather but went on to successfully launch a few days later. Since then, a Dragon has spent as much as six months docked to ISS, with Starliner's CFT-2 mission set to see the ship join Dragon at the ISS.
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