NASA postpones Sunita Williams’ piloted Starliner launch for third time. What’s causing the delay?

The launch of Sunita Williams-piloted Boeing's Starliner spacecraft was called off at the last minute at the Kennedy Space Centre on Saturday. The mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has been postponed for the third time in the last two months.  

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Why was Sunita William's spaceflight called off at last moment?

According to the US space agency NASA, the landmark space mission was canceled at the last moment due to a delay in the spacecraft's launch caused by an error. At the time of spacecraft launch on Saturday, there was a delay at 3 minutes and 50 seconds before liftoff was called by an automated computer system, which takes over the flight sequence in the final minutes of the countdown.

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"Teams have scrubbed today's launch attempt for BoeingSpace's Starliner Crew Flight Test due to an automatic hold of the ground launch sequencer," NASA said in its broadcast on Saturday. The ground launch sequencer is a crucial part of a rocket launch as it tells the rocket to launch.

When will NASA, Boeing attempt next space launch?

After an unexpected delay in Starliner space launch, the US space agency has scheduled a backup launch attempt for Sunday. However, the launch attempt scheduled for today can be carried out only if the issue with ground launch sequencer is resolved on time. 

"When Starliner shifted from ground power to internal power, there was a slight increase in voltage that turned off the cabin fans, which keep the astronauts cool as they sit in their spacesuits in the capsule. They were able to get them turned on again quickly," Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager for the Commercial Crew Program at Boeing said as per CNN.

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The Boeing official said that "Tomorrow or whenever we try our next our next launch attempt, we'll have that figured out," adding “This is the business that we're in. Everything's got to work perfectly.”