NASA and Boeing hope to launch the crewed Boeing Starliner on Saturday (25th May), following a helium leak that stalled the previous launch date.
The crewed test flight was originally scheduled for take-off on 6th May but was scrapped just two hours before due to an issue related to a pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank of the Atlas V rock’s Centaur upper stage.
A re-arranged launch date of 17th May was then decided, but a “small” helium leak meant that the teams working on the launch needed more time to assess the situation.
The additional time allows the teams to better assess the helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module, traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster.
