NASA has announced that the first manned test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will be postponed just two hours before the scheduled launch. The decision was made after a recently discovered security problem was reported by the AFP news agency. According to NASA, safety is their top priority and they will only launch when they are fully prepared.
The United Launch Alliance (ULA) has announced that the new launch date for the Starliner will be organized at the earliest on Friday due to the time needed for an overall evaluation. This decision comes after a series of delays in production for the craft, with the first unmanned test flight experiencing software errors in 2019 and blocked valves leading to a postponement in 2021.
Despite these setbacks, Boeing’s Starliner finally reached the International Space Station (ISS) in May 2022 with an unmanned launch. However, additional problems arose that caused delays to the test flight. When fully operational, NASA hopes to use the Starliner in conjunction with SpaceX’s Dragon ship to transport astronauts to the ISS, providing more options for manned flights and reducing reliance on Russian rockets that NASA has had for almost a decade.
