WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – NASA has canceled the latest, long-delayed, and repeatedly rescheduled first crewed flight of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner to the International Space Station (ISS) that was due to take place on Saturday, May 25, the US space agency announced on Wednesday.
«NASA, Boeing Space and ULA Launch [United Launch Alliance] are forgoing the May 25 launch attempt for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test following meetings assessing flight rationale, system performance, and redundancy,» the US space agency said on X.
The next possible launch opportunity is still being discussed, NASA said. The message gave no indication when this might be.
US astronauts Barry «Butch» Wilmore and Sunita «Suni» Williams were scheduled to fly in the Starliner to the International Space Station (ISS) but after previous delays, a pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur upper stage had to be released.
Starliner was supposed to complement the reliable and now repeatedly used and successful SpaceX Dragon spacecraft which has already flown 50 astronauts, cosmonauts and civilians into orbit in 13 flights, 12 of them to the ISS.
