NASA said on Monday that an unmanned test mission of Boeing’s Starliner space capsule, which will eventually act as a taxi to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), has been postponed again.
This test, which has already been postponed to the beginning of April, will suffer further delays, this time due to bad weather in Texas, which has noticeably caused blackouts in this southern state of the United States.
“We wasted time with bad weather in Houston, for about a week,” said Steve Stitch, director of NASA’s Commercial Aviation Program, at a news conference. He added that the new date is “under evaluation.”
He added that the Starliner will then be tested with astronauts on board, still in 2021, “for the time being in September”.
In December 2019, during its first test flight, the capsule failed to dock with the International Space Station, and returned to Earth prematurely – a setback for the space giant.
Since then, its program has lagged far behind SpaceX, the other company NASA chose to develop a vehicle to join the International Space Station from the United States.
In capsules Dragon Crew It already sent astronauts to the station in June, then in November 2020, and four others, including Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, will go there again on the plane next April.
Evan McKenzie is a contributor at Vaughantoday.ca, covering a wide range of topics including local news, politics, business, technology, sports, entertainment, and lifestyle. He focuses on clear, balanced reporting that helps readers stay informed about current events and issues that matter to their communities. His work aims to provide useful information, timely updates, and relevant stories presented in an accessible and reader-friendly way.