Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test on Atlas V Rocket Rescheduled for May 17 from Cape Canaveral

coverage of the launch can be seen on Space Coast Daily TV

ABOVE VIDEO: ULA Atlas V to Launch Starliner Crew Flight Test from Cape Canaveral on Friday, May 17

The Boeing Starliner launch set for 6:16 p.m. on May 17. The launch this past week was postponed “out of an abundance of caution” by launch officials. The scrub was reportedly due to an oxygen relief valve issue on the Atlas V rocket’s upper stage. Stay tuned to Space Coast Daily for updates.

BREVARD COUNTY • CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test now is targeted to launch no earlier than 6:16 p.m. EDT Friday, May 17, to the International Space Station. Following a thorough data review completed on Tuesday, ULA (United Launch Alliance) decided to replace a pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur upper stage.

ULA plans to roll the rocket, with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, back to its Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday, May 8, to begin the replacement.

The ULA team will perform leak checks and functional checkouts in support of the next launch attempt.

CFT is the final test to demonstrate the full end-of-end capabilities of the Starliner system to deliver crews to and from the space station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

The unique Atlas configuration for Starliner includes a dual-engine Centaur upper stage to deliver the performance needed to shape the trajectory for crew safety; a launch vehicle adapter that structurally attaches the Starliner to the Atlas V rocket for ascent; a 70-inch-long (1.8-m) aeroskirt to enhance the aerodynamic characteristics, stability and loads of the Atlas V; and an Emergency Detection System that provides an extra layer of safety for astronauts riding the reliable Atlas V.

The Atlas V Starliner launch countdown features a four-hour planned, built-in hold at the T-minus 4-minute mark. This allows the rocket to be fueled and placed in a quiescent state before boarding of the astronauts into the spacecraft.

Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41), the East Coast home of the Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, employs a “clean pad” concept of operations to ready launch vehicles and payloads for ascent into space.

Coverage of the launch can be seen on Space Coast Daily TV.

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