After the launch of the first crewed Starliner mission was canceled yesterday, NASA, Boeing and ULA made the decision to wait a few days before making another attempt. Starliner was scheduled to finally lift off on Saturday afternoon after a series of delays, but this attempt was aborted due to a last-minute problem with a ground-based computer system that plays a key role in launching the rocket. While NASA and its partners discussed the possibility of flying today following their assessment of the problem, they decided to wait until the next opportunities, either June 5 or 6.
Saturday's launch was canceled not because of a problem with the Starliner spacecraft itself, but because the ground launch sequencer issued an automatic abort for a then-unknown reason. At a news conference later Saturday, Tory Bruno, president and CEO of ULA, explained that this was an issue verifying the redundancy of the launch sequencer. There are three large computers in this system, all the same, so it's “triple redundant,” Bruno said. During the system health check in the minutes before launch, one of the computers ran slowly, causing an automatic suspension.
POT He said the decision to forego today's launch attempt was made to “give the team additional time to evaluate an issue with ground support equipment.” The launch window opens again on June 5, but no planned takeoff date has yet been announced. If Starliner doesn't fly by June 6, it will be delayed for at least another 10 days. ArsTechnica reports, as the ULA team will need to change the batteries of the Atlas V rocket.
