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Issues on Centennial company’s rocket delays highly-anticipated Boeing Starliner launch

By Bernadette Berdychowski May 7, 2024 | updated 1 year ago

United Launch Alliance and Boeing’s first flight carrying astronauts to the International Space Station continues to face delays.

ULA — an aerospace company headquartered in Centennial — scrubbed Monday night’s launch of its Atlas V rocket to take Boeing’s Starliner with two NASA astronauts onboard “out of an abundance of caution” for the crew’s safety, a statement said. The launch was set to take place in Cape Canaveral on Florida’s East Coast.

Workers spotted a “bit of a buzz” on the valve that regulates the rocket fuel tank’s pressure that led to the scrub, said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

The rocket manufacturer typically could check and fix problems like this ahead of a launch but its protocol for humans on board is different, ULA’s CEO Tony Bruno told reporters Monday night. It was supposed to be the company’s first human launch in its 18-year history.

NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams had to be taken off the spacecraft before any adjustments to the fuel tank were made.

“We don’t change the fueled state of the vehicle when the crew is present,” Bruno said. “You can do it otherwise from that, and other people do, but that’s our philosophy.”

He added that the team would assess on Tuesday whether the valve needs to be replaced.

The scheduled launch was for a test flight that would take astronauts to practice docking the Boeing Starliner to the ISS. The test is critical for NASA to approve its certification so the joint-venture can begin routine flights and finally compete against SpaceX — which has been the only U.S. private company since 2020 to have sent humans to the space station.

In 2014, NASA contracted SpaceX and Boeing to rely less on Russian rockets to send astronauts to the ISS after the Space Shuttle program ended and bring back launches on American soil.

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It also helps the space agency have more time and money to focus on deep space missions such as sending humans to the moon and potentially Mars.

But Boeing’s Starliner has faced a myriad of delays from parachute-deploying issues, software glitches preventing docking to the ISS and problems with valves.

What sets Colorado's Front Range apart from other space hubs?

It was originally supposed to have its test flight last summer but was delayed due to safety-critical problems. It took months before company and government officials agreed the spacecraft was ready to fly with lives on board.

ULA’s 172-foot-tall Atlas V rocket is from the 1950s model of rockets that sent the first American, John Glenn, into Earth’s orbit. Atlas was originally designed by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.

ULA is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing and now manufactures the Atlas rockets. The Atlas V Starliner ship had to be amended for the company’s first human flight, which the astronauts advised on.

It has an emergency detection system that can automatically eject the astronauts if there was a malfunction. And this version of the rocket brought back the “Dual Engine Centaur,” a fuel reserve with double the thrust and more control of the trajectory, that wasn’t as needed for space flights during the last 15 years.

ULA found the faulty valve on the Centaur’s upper stage.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Bernadette Berdychowski

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