Further inspections and tests are warranted, so the team plans to transport the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, with Starliner positioned atop, to the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The team will power down Starliner later today and then move the rocket and spacecraft to VIF. A rescheduled date and time of launch has not been determined.
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“NASA and Boeing will take whatever time is necessary to ensure Starliner is ready for its important uncrewed flight test to the space station and will look for the next available opportunity after resolution of the issue,” NASA writes.
Now is the part of my article when I’m obliged to say this is all a normal part of development and testing, that it’s good to be safe, and that problems should be expected, and bla bla bla. But as much as I’m rooting for this project, it’s clearly been a shitshow. Boeing needs to get its act together, whether it’s designing safe commercial crew vehicles for NASA astronauts or making pilots aware of frighteningly dangerous features added to next-gen airplanes.
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Starliner will probably be a success, and it will afford NASA a second option for delivering its astronauts to the International Space Station (SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is already up and running). But the space agency should seriously consider its options when sourcing future partners.