The CST-100 Starliner (Crew Space Transportation) has not had it easy lately. Although in reality it would be more accurate to say that the seat remains firm in its, can we call it tradition?, chain of delays and frustrated starts. And we must remember that since the first flight, which was originally planned for mid-2019, we have experienced some delays that have led to this launch only taking place in November of that year.

They only had to wait a month and a half for their next flight, the second to take the Starliner to the International Space Station, but due to a problem with the ship’s software that caused excessive fuel consumption during the orbit formation phase, the planned destination was not reached. Of course the ship can be restored because, remember, The CST-100 is a reusable ship. From that moment, almost two years and several suspensions had to pass before the test was repeated in May 2022, this time successfully, as the Starliner was able to fly to the ISS, dock with it and then return safely. to the ground.

With these rods, the next step was (and still is) to repeat the act, but this time with a crew for the first time in its history (that is, the Starliner). Of course, this carries with it risks that have not yet had to be faced (mainly the lives of crew members), but it will also mean confirmation that the project, jointly signed by Boeing and Bigelow Aerospace for NASA, is able to offer the US space agency an alternative to the company’s Crew Dragon Space-X.

In March, already in 2024, there were clear signs that this third flight, the first piloted, was already very close, and several launch dates have been announced since then, but eventually canceled. And it happened again The Starliner flight scheduled for yesterday, June 1, was suspended at the last minute, so the crew stays back on the ground. The reason, as we can see in a message posted on NASA Twitter, is that the systems that control the launch sequence on the ground have blocked it. In a follow-up tweet, the space agency said they were analyzing what happened and that the next launch window (so the most optimal time for it) would be today, Sunday, June 2 at 18:03 (Spanish Peninsular Time).

However, there did not seem to be enough time to confirm the reasons for what happened, so the latest news at the time of this report is that NASA has given up on the June 2nd launch window and has tentatively placed itself, pending the results of the investigation, which is still open , until the upcoming release windows of June 5th and 6th.

A delay is always bad news, but we must not forget that this will be the first manned mission of the Starliner, and therefore failure can have a human cost, something to be avoided at all costs for more than obvious reasons. So it makes sense to say that the parties involved in the launch are acting in a deeply conservative way, but the truth is that in these cases it is by far the best way to act.

Image: NASA