
The Starliner was supposed to launch an uncrewed test flight to the space station on August 3, SpaceNews reports, but the mission was scrubbed three hours before launch because valves in the propulsion system were stuck in the closed position for reasons that engineers still haven't been able to sort out, though they suspect the spacecraft may have been damaged by a rainstorm during transportation.
Regardless, Boeing doesn't have very long to figure it out before the mission gets sidelined by the space station's packed schedule in the coming months.
Cautiously Optimistic
The Starliner has a years-long history of software problems, hardware issues, and other delay-causing problems including Boeing totally skipping a crucial safety test last February. Still, the company says it expects its fortune to improve soon.
"Cautiously optimistic is a good way to describe how the team is feeling," Boeing vice president and commercial crew program manager John Vollmer said in a statement provided to SpaceNews.
But that optimism had better pay off soon if Boeing wants to fly the Starliner this year. If it misses its window, upcoming SpaceX and NASA missions that are already on the books may force Boeing to wait until as late as November before it gets another opportunity to try and launch the experimental spacecraft, according to SpaceNews. So if the company ever wants to catch up to SpaceX's crewed spaceflight program, it needs to hurry up.
Comment: The is just the latest in a litany of problems and failures - some of which were deadly - involving the US government and its partners, and one is beginning to get the impression that it may be that there are serious problems within the organizations themselves: