The first crew after yesterday’s launch Starliner mission cleared, NASA, Boeing and ULA decided to wait a few days before trying again. The Starliner was finally due to lift off on Saturday afternoon after a series of delays, but the attempt was aborted due to a last-minute problem with the onboard computer system that played a key role in the launch of the rocket. After evaluating the issue, NASA and partners discussed the possibility of a flight today, but decided to postpone it until the next opportunity on June 5 or 6.
Saturday’s launch didn’t go missing because of a problem with the Starliner itself, but because the drop sequencer missed an automatic catch for a reason unknown at the time. At a press conference on Saturday, ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno explained that there was a problem verifying the launch sequencer’s redundancy. This system has three large computers, all of which are identical, so it’s “three times over,” Bruno said. A few minutes before the start, during a system health check, one of the computers came up slow and automatically started waiting.
NASA It said the decision to abandon today’s launch attempt was made to “give the team additional time to assess the problem with the ground support equipment”. The June 5th launch window reopens, but no target flight time has been announced yet. If the Starliner doesn’t fly by June 6, it will be pushed back at least 10 days. ArsTechnica reports that the ULA team will have to replace the batteries of the Atlas V rocket.
