Boeing’s first mission carrying astronauts to space aboard its Starliner capsule has been delayed until at least the summer, a NASA official said.
Previously slated for late April, the Starliner mission was delayed “as teams reassess readiness and complete verification work,” NASA space operations chief Kathy Leuders announced in a tweet on March 23.
This marks yet another delay for the mission, as Boeing had initially eyed a December 2022 launch.
The rocket launch will now take place after the launch of Axiom Space’s Ax-2 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in early May.
“Crew flight test (CFT) now will launch following Axiom Mission 2 for optimized station operations,” Leuders said. “Target launch dates for Ax-2, still planned in early May, and Starliner will be shared soon.”
It is unclear what triggered NASA’s announcement and no further details as to the cause for the delay were provided.
Industry sources told Space News that pre-flight checkouts and other work such as software testing had taken longer than planned but were unaware of any specific developments that prompted the announcement.
Starliner’s debut crewed mission is set to be pivotal for Boeing’s space unit amid competition from rivals such as SpaceX.
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