Boeing space launch: Historic Starline crewed launch delayed again due to helium leak - when is the spacecraft next due to be launched?

The highly anticipated launch of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, its first crewed mission, has been delayed again. The launch was expected on May 17 after a previous delay, but teams found a small helium leak in the service module of the spacecraft which prevented its launch, according to a release from Boeing. 

The firm said: “The teams now are targeting a launch date of no earlier than 4:43 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 21, to complete additional testing”. Both Boeing and NASA are developing tests and solutions for the leak, with Boeing adding that a review of the data from its failed launch attempt on May 6 has not shown any other issues.

The NASA astronauts set to crew the mission have been in pre-flight quarantine but returned to Houston on May 10 to spend time with their families during the operations pre-flight. According to Boeing, Williams and Wilmore will fly back to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the coming days.

The mission has been delayed for several years because of setbacks in the spacecraft's development. If it is successful, it will become the second private firm able to provide crew transport to and from the International Space Station (ISS), alongside Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The two Nasa astronauts should have taken flight in 2017, before supply and production hold-ups, hardware and software issues skewered the schedule. While Boeing worked to fix its problems, its chief rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX, completed 340 launches, and intends to carry humans to Mars by the end of the next decade.

The Starliner capsule, officially called CST-100 (crew space transportation), has interior space similar to a midsize SUV, and has a capacity of seven, although it will be configured for four astronauts and cargo for space station flights. Libby Jackson, Head of Space Exploration at the UK Space Agency, said: “This is a huge step towards expanding the capability for sending astronauts to orbit from US soil, with Boeing’s Starliner soon to be complementing SpaceX’s Dragon in providing commercially operated flights to and from the International Space Station (ISS). 

“Having two different ways of getting into space brings both resilience and competition, which are vital components for the continued operation of the ISS and the future commercial space stations that are in development. We expect to see ESA Astronauts on board Starliner soon, and this could include astronauts from the UK. The ISS provides a unique environment for cutting-edge scientific research that benefits us all back on Earth. So it's really important that we have options for getting there.”