After numerous postponements due to technical problems, the US space agency Nasa is hoping for the first manned test flight of the crisis-plagued spaceship “Starliner” in June. The current target is June 1st, with further launch options available on June 2nd, 5th and 6th, NASA and the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced at a press conference.
The engineers have now spent many days intensively dealing with numerous questions about spacecraft and rockets and are confident about June, said Nasa manager Ken Bowersox. “We also spoke a lot with the crew and they are in good spirits,” added NASA manager Steve Stich.
The test flight, which had already been postponed several times, was canceled at the beginning of the month shortly before the planned launch due to abnormalities in an oxygen valve on the “Atlas V” rocket. After a thorough inspection, the decision was made to replace the valve. There was also a problem with a helium leak on the spacecraft.
The two NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams are scheduled to fly with the “Starliner” on its first manned test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) and stay for around a week. In the future, the “Starliner” will transport astronauts to the ISS as an alternative to SpaceX’s “Crew Dragon” space capsule. However, due to a number of problems, the project is well behind schedule.
