NASA and Boeing have elected to stand down from Friday’s launch attempt of
the agency’s second Orbital Flight Test (OFT-2) mission. Currently, the
earliest available launch opportunity is 1:20 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 3. The
International Space Station team will use the time to continue working
checkouts of the newly arrived Roscosmos Nauka multipurpose laboratory
module (MLM) and to ensure the station will be ready for Starliner’s
arrival.
Launch preparations will resume following a final decision from the
International Space Station and Commercial Crew Program teams for the next
opportunity to send Starliner on its way to complete the OFT-2 mission,
which will set the stage for the first Crew Flight Test.
Earlier Thursday, Starliner atop its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket
was moved to its seaside launch pad for standard launch preparations. Teams
are assessing moving the vehicle back to its Vehicle Integration Facility to
protect it from weather until launch preparations resume. Starliner and
Atlas V are in a safe, flight-ready configuration and do not require any
near-term servicing.
The Atlas V was assembled throughout July, which included the transfer of
Starliner from Boeing’s spacecraft processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy
Space Center in Florida to nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Launch
Complex 41 for mating atop the rocket.
No comments:
Post a Comment