Boeing Starliner Crewed Launch Attempt Scrubbed

Two NASA astronauts had reached the final hours before a long-awaited launch attempt aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule, the first crewed mission of the new spacecraft

Launch officials do not yet know when they will make a second attempt to get Starliner off the ground, though possible launch times include Tuesday at 10:11 p.m. ET as well as the evenings of May 10 and 11. I Photo: Bob Hiner, NASA

The mission was scrubbed about two hours before the countdown clock hit zero, however, due to a defective valve on the Atlas V rocket, Jackie Wattles reported for CNN.

The rocket, a workhorse vehicle built by Alabama-based United Launch Alliance (ULA), was supposed to fire the Starliner capsule to space.

Launch officials do not yet know when they will make a second attempt to get Starliner off the ground, though possible launch times include Tuesday at 10:11 p.m. ET as well as the evenings of May 10 and 11.

“Good things are worth waiting for, and we’ll get a chance to see that rocket and spacecraft (get) off the pad here soon,” said NASA’s associate administrator for space operations Ken Bowersox during a news briefing Monday night.

The valve at issue is located on the Atlas V rocket’s second stage, or the upper portion of the vehicle that’s attached to the Starliner spacecraft. Occasionally, valves can get into a position where they start to “buzz” by opening and closing rapidly, said Tory Bruno, the CEO of United Launch Alliance.