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Boeing Starliner historic crewed launch delayed again indefinitely

After reporting a helium leak in the spacecraft, NASA has taken the next target date for the highly anticipated launch off the table — without immediately naming a new one.

“Pressure testing performed on May 15 on the spacecraft’s helium system showed the leak in the flange is stable and would not pose a risk at that level during the flight,” the space agency said in a Friday news release. The NASA astronauts set to crew the mission for a weeklong stay at the International Space Station, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, have been in preflight quarantine but returned to Houston on May 10 to spend time with their families, Boeing said last week. The Crew Flight Test is a decade in the making — the culmination of Boeing’s efforts to develop a spacecraft worthy of ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station under NASA’s commercial program.

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