Boeing
Earlier today, Boeing's CST-100 Starliner was rolled back to the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF), where the vehicle was assembled, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
After its launch on Orbital Flight Test (OFT)-2 was delayed due to 13 valves being stuck in the closed position inside its propulsion system, Starliner was destacked from its Atlas V rocket—which the capsule was mated to for its scheduled liftoff on August 3—and transported from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 back to the C3PF to undergo inspections.
Even if the valve issue is resolved as quickly as possible, the next opportunity to launch OFT-2 won't occur for a few months.
Worse-case scenario for OFT-2 is that the flight will be postponed to early 2022...due to the International Space Station already scheduled to receive other visitors such as SpaceX's CRS-23 cargo mission on August 28, and NASA's Crew-3 astronauts who will launch aboard a brand-new SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle this October. Stay tuned.
Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule returned to a processing facility at Kennedy Space Center today after being removed from its Atlas 5 launcher.
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) August 20, 2021
Valve problems prevented the spaceship from launching on an unpiloted test flight earlier this month.
Watch: https://t.co/9g5s3KsD3l pic.twitter.com/6zgOIgL5F9
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