KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – NASA, Boeing and United Launch Alliance recently held a teleconference to discuss the status of the highly-anticipated crewed Starliner launch, which was delayed due to a helium leak.
The teleconference discussed the leak and the “path toward launching the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test.”
Right now, launch is scheduled for Saturday, June 1, at 12:25 p.m. Other launch opportunities are available on Sunday, June 2, Wednesday, June 5, and Thursday, June 6.
On Wednesday afternoon, the NASA Commercial Crew social media account posted a message saying ‘“Go” to proceed with launch!”
“Go” to proceed with launch!@NASA and @BoeingSpace teams polled "go" for the launch of the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to @Space_Station at 12:25pm ET June 1 during today’s Delta-Agency Flight Test Readiness Review.
— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) May 29, 2024
Weather officers with @SLDelta45 predict 90% favorable… pic.twitter.com/Pi37UVJrCF
“You know this is an important flight for us. It is not easy. I’ve been in human spaceflight for 37 years. And there’s challenges with every single flight,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “... And there’s challenges on every vehicle so we’ll work through those. Those challenges one by one. I’m extremely proud of the teams they put in long hours worked over the weekend.”
Starliner has been plagued with issues. Its initial unpiloted test flight in 2019 was derailed by software problems and communications glitches. A second uncrewed test flight was generally successful, but more problems were discovered after its return to Earth, CBS reported.
The recent helium leak was first detected during a launch attempt on May 6.
The astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are in “good spirits,” according to Stich.
A flight readiness review is set for Wednesday, May 29, before the planned weekend launch.
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