The launch countdown for Boeing’s new Starliner space capsule on its inaugural crewed test flight was halted on Saturday, postponing the mission for at least 24 hours.
A May 6 countdown was halted just two hours before launch time over a faulty pressure valve on the Atlas upper stage, followed by weeks of further delays caused by other engineering problems, since resolved, on the Starliner itself. While Boeing has struggled, SpaceX has become a dependable taxi to orbit for NASA, which is backing a new generation of privately built spacecraft that can ferry astronauts to ISS and in the future - under its ambitious Artemis program - to the moon and eventually Mars.
Once launched, the capsule is expected to arrive at the space station after a flight of about 26 hours and dock with the orbiting research outpost some 250 miles above Earth.