The decision to abort the mission was made after the launch control teams detected abnormal behavior of the pressure-regulating valve of the liquid oxygen tank on the Centaur upper stage of the ULA Atlas V launcher. After the ground crew and astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams safely exited space at Launch Complex 41, the ULA ordered the valve closed and the oscillations were temporarily mitigated. But the oscillations then repeated twice during fuel removal operations. The decision to replace the part was then made by those responsible for the mission.
The process of replacing the pressure regulating valve in the liquid oxygen tank has begun. The rocket will need to be returned to the vertical integration area at Cape Canaveral Space Station. The ULA team will conduct leak checks and functional verification in preparation for the next launch attempt. This is scheduled to take place on Friday, May 17 at 6:16 pm local time (12:16 am on the night of May 17 to 18 French time).
The “crew flight test” (first crewed flight) of the Starliner capsule is critical to NASA certification. Boeing therefore hopes to obtain permission to regularly transport astronauts to the International Space Station, as SpaceX has been successfully doing since 2020.
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