Boeing's Starliner astronaut capsule successfully launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, but then failed to reach the orbit after a timer malfunction made it burn too much fuel
) new astronaut capsule failed after liftoff on Friday to climb high enough in orbit to reach the International Space Station, cutting short a critical unmanned test mission in the embattled aerospace giant’s race to send humans to the orbital outpost.
The implications for any further design and testing requirements before Starliner is approved for its first crewed mission also remained unclear. The prospect that Boeing might need to repeat an unmanned orbital test flight could substantially delay NASA’s timeline and drive up costs. The spacecraft, a cone-shaped pod with seats for seven astronauts, lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 6:36 a.m. atop an Atlas V rocket supplied by Boeing-Lockheed Martin Corp’s United Launch Alliance.
Bridenstine said the timer error caused the capsule to burn much of its fuel too soon, preventing it from reaching the desired orbit. NASA and Boeing tried to manually correct the automated errors, but mission control commands sent across NASA’s satellite communications network were inexplicably delayed.
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