Boeing Starliner’s launch aborted again, Sunita Williams’ third space mission deferred to May 25

The Crew Test Flight of Boeing is crucial for the aerospace company as it will be the final test flight before the Starliner mission gets a go ahead from NASA for routine flights to and from the ISS.

Boeing’s Starliner test flight will send Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to space. (PTI)

Boeing has postponed for the third time its first Starliner astronaut mission which is slated to carry Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams to space. The mission has been deferred to May 25 due to “a small helium leak” that was detected in the space probe’s service module.

The Crewed Flight Test, which is also the maiden test flight of Boeing, was earlier scheduled to launch on May 21. The Boeing’s Starliner will send NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to space. NASA said that the delay in liftoff “allows teams to further assess a small helium leak in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft’s service module traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster”.

It will be the third space mission for Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams, having a 50 hours and 40 minutes of total cumulative spacewalk time — second highest among the female astronauts.

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Boeing started manufacturing the Startliner a decade ago in order to provide NASA with a spacecraft which is adequate in accompanying astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). However, the Starliner programme has been delayed for several years as per the schedule and remains over budget by about $1.5 billion. Billionaire Elon Musk-led SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, which launched the astronauts in 2020, built the capsule under the same space program.

NASA had hired two companies, SpaceX and Boeing, to manufacture the spacecrafts after its space shuttle programme was shut.

The Crew Test Flight of Boeing is crucial for the aerospace company as it will be the final test flight before the Starliner mission gets a go ahead from NASA for routine flights to and from the ISS. Giving an update, NASA said “Boeing teams are working to develop operational procedures to ensure the system retains sufficient performance capability and appropriate redundancy during the flight.”