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Boeing cancels first crewed Starliner launch to space station due to oxygen valve problems

Boeing has canceled the highly anticipated first launch of its rocket Starliner transporting astronauts to the International Space Station due to a valve problem in the spacecraft. The Boeing spacecraft was scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida, carrying astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams in the first attempt at a crewed test flight. But the launch was canceled about two hours ahead of schedule. Mission control requested a “scrub” of the launch attempt after an anomaly was detected on an oxygen valve on the rocket Atlas V of the United Launch Alliance. The problem specifically concerns an oxygen exhaust valve on the rocket's upper stage made by Boeing, the Associated Press reported, citing a United Launch Alliance engineer. “ULA Launch Director Tom Heter III communicated to the launch team the decision that launch operations AtlasV and Starliner will not continue this evening,” United Launch Alliance wrote on its official X account. “In a situation like this, if we see a different data signature than we have seen previously, we are not willing to take any risks with that which is our most valuable payload,” said the ULA engineer. Minutes after canceling the launch, Boeing's new Astrovan was on the launch pad to bring back the two astronauts. It is not yet clear when the team will try to launch test pilots again. NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX more than a decade ago to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS, paying both companies billions of dollars.
While SpaceX has been flying crew and cargo to the ISS since 2020, Starliner must complete a critical final test before NASA can clear Boeing. Boeing's first uncrewed test flight in 2019 failed to reach the space station.
Later, when Boeing repeated the flight, it found problems with the capsule, parachute and flammable ribbon.
The latest crash is another setback for Boeing, which has already experienced years of delays and budget overruns with its Starliner program.