NASA and Boeing have scrubbed today’s Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2 launch, though contrary to expectations it’s not because of last week’s problems at the
NASA and Boeing have scrubbed today’s Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2 launch, though contrary to expectations it’s not because of last week’s problems at the International Space Station. The US space agency had warned that the Starliner launch might be pushed back, after an unexpected incident on the new Russian ISS module saw it shuffled out of position. OFT-2 had been intended to launch on Friday, July 30. However the day prior, the Roscosmos Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) – known as Nauka – arrived at the International Space Station and was docked. While leak checks were being undertaken, Nauka’s thrusters had an unplanned activation, moving the ISS out of its correct orientation. No injuries or damage was sustained, but NASA and Boeing opted to delay the OFT-2 launch nonetheless. It was rescheduled to today, and was to blast off at 1:20pm ET.
