Plans to launch Boeing’s oft-delayed Starliner spacecraft on its first crewed test flight Saturday were put on hold Tuesday night to give managers more time to evaluate a small helium leak in the ship’s propulsion system. A new launch target was not announced.
Little has been said officially about the satellites, which have been described as part of the agency’s “proliferated architecture.” Liftoff happened at the opening of the launch window at 1 a.m. PDT (4 a.m. EDT, 0800 UTC).
Ed Dwight, a 90-year-old artist and former Air Force test pilot who was denied a chance to become the first African American astronaut six decades ago, finally rocketed into space Sunday, fulfilling a cherished dream in a brief up-and-down flight out of the lower atmosphere.
The shift in launch date is to allow more time to build in redundancy to account for the helium leak. The launch is currently scheduled for no earlier than Saturday, May 25, at 3:09 p.m. EDT (1909 UTC).
Launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket carrying Boeing’s Starliner capsule is slipping another four days, from Friday to next Tuesday, to give engineers time to make sure a helium leak in the crew ship’s propulsion system has been resolved, officials said Tuesday.
The mission featured the launch of the next 13 Starlink satellites that included Direct to Cell capabilities. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) happened at 11:39 a.m. PDT (2:39 p.m. EDT, 1839 UTC).
The milestone comes as a result of the 34th dedicated Starlink launch of the year for SpaceX. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 8:53 p.m. EDT (0053 UTC).
In this week’s edition of News from the Press Site, Spaceflight Now’s Will Robinson-Smith is joined by Jeff Foust, senior writer at Space News, and Bill Harwood, space consultant for CBS News.