(Washington) The first manned flight of Boeing’s space capsule, Starliner, has been postponed again, and is now scheduled for April, NASA announced Thursday.
Posted at 6:46 p.m.
The American space agency wants to set up a second means of transport to the International Space Station (ISS) for its astronauts, with the SpaceX capsule already in service.
But Boeing suffered a series of setbacks that significantly delayed its program, including a failed test flight in 2019. The company finally succeeded in May 2022 in reaching the ISS for the first time, without a crew on board.
Boeing then hoped to be able to carry out its first manned flight in 2022, before it was postponed for the first time to February 2023.
The new delay announced Thursday helps regulate traffic to the Space Station, NASA said in a statement, without providing further details.
This test flight, called CFT (for “Crew flight test”), will carry two NASA astronauts, Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams. They are expected to stay on the ISS for about two weeks, NASA said Thursday.
If the mission is successful, the Boeing capsule can finally be certified and begin its operational flights, on a date yet to be determined.