Due to a technical issue, Sunita Williams, an Indian astronaut, had to cancel her third space mission

Due to a valve issue in the rocket’s upper stage, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which was meant to send NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore to the International Space Station (ISS), was delayed on Monday (local time).

About two hours before the scheduled launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, United Launch Alliance director Tom Heter III, a rocket industry representative, announced the decision to postpone the launch.

The space agency, Boeing, and ULA “scrubbed the launch opportunity on May 6 for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test to the International Space Station due to a faulty oxygen relief valve observation on the Atlas V rocket Centaur second stage,” NASA said on social media platform X. The issue was found with an oxygen valve on a portion of ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket. There will be more details soon. The crew and rocket are still safe.

According to the statement, NASA astronauts Wilmore and Williams will return to their crew quarters after stepping out of the Starliner spacecraft at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida’s Space Launch Complex-41.

This would have been Starliner’s first human crewed trip, with Sunita “Suni” Williams, an Indian, and fellow NASA pilot Barry “Butch” Wilmore operating the vehicle. Boing created Starliner to compete with SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which conducted a crewed flight test in May 2020. Elon Musk founded SpaceX. Since then, SpaceX has taken care of the majority of NASA’s crew transport requirements.

However, mission management was forced to cancel the operation only two hours before the planned launch due to a malfunctioning valve in the rocket’s upper stage. For Wilmore and Williams, two seasoned astronauts with strong histories in naval aviation who had already made two space flights aboard the NASA space shuttle and Russian Soyuz missions, it was a disheartening setback. As they unbuckled from their seats and realized their dreams of taking off into space had been abruptly dashed, the despair was evident, according to CBS News.

Coincidentally, Sunita Williams gave the spacecraft the name “Calypso” in honor of her passion for the water and in homage to Jacques Cousteau, the renowned explorer who traveled the planet on a ship of the same name.

The seasoned pair remained calm in the face of the setback because they understood that space flight requires perseverance and patience. According to CBS News, Wilmore and Williams, dressed in their recognizable Boeing pressure suits, were eager to get started on their space voyage as soon as possible. They were waiting for word of the next launch window.

The reliability-tested Atlas 5 rocket prepared for its historic 100th flight, which was to launch Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 Starliner spaceship. According to ULA, the intention was for Starliner engines to ignite after separation from Atlas 5 and carry the spacecraft the remaining distance into orbit and on to the International Space Station.

Five scientific spacecraft had been successfully launched by the Atlas 5 to Mars, and it had also conducted research missions to the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, the asteroid Bennu, and Pluto. The centaur, or so-called upper stage, and the booster are the two main parts of the Atlas 5. Centaur lies on top of Starliner, which is resting on top of the booster. Everything is powered off the launchpad by the rocket. Centaur is built to detach from the launcher during flight, launching Starliner into a correct orbit. After that, Starliner breaks free of Centaur and takes off on its own.

It has launched meteorological observatories that are vital to every American, transported US national security assets into orbit, and placed commercial satellites in orbit to provide global connectivity.

Williams was chosen by NASA to be an astronaut in June 1998. During two missions, he has completed 322 days in space, and he has 50 hours and 40 minutes of total EVA time on seven spacewalks. Williams collaborated with the first Expedition crew as well as Roscosmos on the latter’s contribution to the space station.

Wilmore, who is 61 years old, has spent 178 days in space and has completed four spacewalks totaling 25 hours and 36 minutes.

NASA has been waiting for the start of human operations on Starliner for the last five years, and the project’s development has been plagued by years of delays, mishaps, and errors. In general, years of scandals in Boeing’s aircraft sector have damaged the company’s reputation and the reputation of the historic aerospace powerhouse, according to CNN.

If the Crew Test Flight is a success, Boeing may be lined up to start making regular flights to the space station on NASA’s behalf.

Before the anticipated conclusion of the ISS’s operational life in six years, Boeing has already scheduled six human trips for the station.

NASA intends to launch people from US territory at least once every six months using both SpaceX’s Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner. NASA assigned Boeing and SpaceX the task of launching commercial human trips to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014.

For the development of the Starliner, the US government gave Boeing about USD 4 billion in funding, while SpaceX got over USD 2.6 billion.