Boeing Starliner launch plans

Boeing said a second attempt to launch the Starliner space taxi was canceled, with launch officials citing bad weather on Tuesday. The capsule test precedes the first scheduled flight with astronauts on board later this year.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration previously said it has another launch window on Wednesday.

An unsuccessful effort in late 2019 shattered the record for a company that was at the forefront of American space exploration, including the Apollo missions to the moon. Starliner is the latest in a line of new rockets, capsules and other vehicles intended to further America’s ambitions for a new space race to the moon, Mars and beyond.

Starliner will give the United States more options to access low earth orbit and the space station. American astronauts had to board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to get there after the space shuttle pulled out in 2011. NASA opted for alternative outsourcing through its Commercial Crew program and chose Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the official SpaceX name of Elon Musk, to provide a space taxi. services.

The CST-100 Starliner is expected to carry more than 400 pounds of NASA supplies in cargo and crew, as well as return materials, including oxygen tanks. A model named Rosie the Rocketeer is expected to be on board, equipped with sensors to capture data before a manned mission.