Boeing Starliner's crew debut delayed again over spacecraft issue
WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - Boeing's (BA.N)
, opens new tab first Starliner mission carrying astronauts into space has been delayed again - until
at least May 21 - over an issue with the spacecraft's propulsion system, the company said on Tuesday.
Starliner's mission carrying two NASA astronauts had been scheduled for liftoff from Florida last week until a technical issue with its Atlas 5 rocket prompted a delay to Friday, May 17, the latest postponement for a program years behind schedule and more than $1.5 billion over budget.
A new technical issue, now concerning Starliner itself, has prompted another postponement to at least next Tuesday, Boeing said in a statement.
"Starliner teams are working to resolve a small helium leak detected in the spacecraft's service module," Boeing said, adding that engineers traced the leak to a component on one of the propulsion system's 28 control thrusters that are used for maneuvering in Earth's orbit.