After yesterday’s launch of the primary crewed Starliner mission was scrubbed, NASA, Boeing and ULA made the choice to attend a couple of days earlier than making one other try. Starliner was scheduled to lastly elevate off on Saturday afternoon after a collection of delays, however this try was aborted on account of a last-minute problem with a floor pc system that performs a key position in launching the rocket. Whereas NASA and companions mentioned presumably flying immediately following their evaluation of the difficulty, they’ve determined to carry off till the subsequent alternatives, both on June 5 or 6.
Saturday’s launch wasn’t scrubbed on account of an issue with the Starliner craft itself, however as a result of an computerized maintain was issued by the bottom launch sequencer for a then-unknown purpose. In a press convention afterward Saturday, Tory Bruno, president and CEO of ULA defined that it got here all the way down to an issue in verifying the launch sequencer’s redundancy. There are three giant computer systems on this system, all of that are the identical so it’s “triple redundant,” Bruno stated. Through the system well being test within the minutes earlier than launch, one of many computer systems got here up gradual, triggering an computerized maintain.
NASA stated the choice to forgo immediately’s launch try was made with the intention to “give the staff extra time to evaluate a floor help tools problem.” The launch window opens once more on June 5, however no goal liftoff time has been introduced simply but. If Starliner doesn’t fly by June 6, it’ll be set again by at the very least one other 10 days, ArsTechnica experiences, because the ULA staff might want to swap out the Atlas V rocket’s batteries.