Push The Boeing Crewed Launch Back Another Week: May 17, 2024 -- Earliest. "Space Is... Hard"

This is wise -- and there is literally no reason to. . . rush it. As we've long said, it is no longer clear that humans on Mars yields any significant science dividend, compared to robotic missions -- especially in view of not having solved for the radiation problems such a long voyage entails, to human health.

Obviously, the stepping stones are crewed missions in this capsule, then crewed missions to the Moon in it. That, at some point in the mid-2030s or beyond might lead to a crewed mission to Mars -- but only after better shielding for radiation is worked out. So -- here's the latest, on it all. As ever, safety is (and should be) the prime objective:

. . .NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test now is targeted to launch no earlier than 6:16 p.m. EDT Friday, May 17, to the International Space Station. Following a thorough data review completed on Tuesday, ULA (United Launch Alliance) decided to replace a pressure regulation valve on the liquid oxygen tank on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur upper stage.

ULA plans to roll the rocket, with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, back to its Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral. . . to begin the replacement. The ULA team will perform leak checks and functional checkouts in support of the next launch attempt.

The oscillating behavior of the valve during prelaunch operations, ultimately resulted in mission teams calling a launch scrub on May 6. . . .

Now you know. Onward, smiling -- sun peeking through here, now.

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