NASA, Mission Partners Answer Questions Behind Starliner Scrub

Managers from NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) have disclosed ongoing work ahead of sending NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test. 

The media update detailed a valve ULA replaced on the Centaur upper stage of the Atlas V rocket, as well as a small helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module, and a propulsion system assessment to understand potential helium system impacts on some Starliner return scenarios. 

Wilmore and Williams are scheduled to be (and have been... for a LONG time) the first to launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner on an Atlas V rocket. The astronauts will spend about a week at the orbiting laboratory before the crew capsule makes a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the southwestern United States. 

The crew remains in quarantine in preparation for the launch. NASA, Boeing, and ULA also will participate in a Delta-Agency Flight Test Readiness Review on Wednesday, May 29, to evaluate the work performed since the last launch attempt on May 6. 

Liftoff is scheduled for 12:25 p.m. Saturday, June 1, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. After successful completion of the flight test, NASA may begin the final process of certifying Starliner and its systems for crewed rotation missions to the space station. 

FMI: www.nasa.gov