NASA & Boeing’s First Astronaut Launch Canceled Less Than Four Minutes Before Launch

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After a considerable number of delays that pushed its launch forward by almost a month, NASA and Boeing's inaugural crewed flight to the ISS failed to lift off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida yet again earlier today. The Starliner CFT mission will fly NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft and the ULA's Atlas V rocket.

Before the launch attempt, the countdown proceeded nominally, and teams made good use of the extra time built into the process, which allowed the ULA to troubleshoot and resolve problems with ground equipment. However, three minutes fifty seconds before launch, teams called hold after the launch director had cleared the rocket for launch.

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Ahead of liftoff, the countdown was proceeding smoothly until teams discovered problems with valves on the ground system. Since ULA, Boeing and NASA were ahead in the count, meaning that they had achieved milestones ahead of schedule, they had plenty of time to resolve the issue. The problem with another set of valves and the issue forced ULA to initially stop pressurizing the upper stage Centaur's liquid oxygen and hydrogen tanks.

Due to the extremely low temperature of the propellants, the tanks have to be pressurized to ensure adequate performance during launch. As part of the process to solve the problem, the ULA, whose Atlas V is one of the oldest rockets in American history, switched the valves to a backup set of sensors. This allowed the equipment to work as intended, and the upper stage was topped up with the propellants ahead of hatch closure.

Apart from the valve problem and the pre launch hold, the rest of the pre flight procedures did not demonstrate any