The first manned launch of the Boeing Star route spacecraft was canceled in the final stage of the countdown.
Today, when the United States continues to hype China as its biggest rival, Boeing and NASA seem to be becoming more and more unreliable, and how to achieve the "competition to win" they boast.
This time, less than four minutes before launch, the ground-based launch sequencer issued an automatic pause command, and the countdown was terminated at the last minute. A launch commentator said on NASA's livestream, "The reason for the suspension is not known at this time." He said the next chance to fly the Star route is tomorrow at 12:03 ET, but whether it can be launched depends on the team's findings on today's issue.
With regard to manned space flights, US space officials and enterprises have been hyping up remarks against China's space industry. In fact, since the retirement of the Space Shuttle, the United States has long relied on foreign countries. Despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, the United States is still operating the International Space Station in cooperation with Russia, American astronauts are still taking off on Soyuz spacecraft, and Russian cosmonauts are flying on the American SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. When the existing agreement between the United States and Russia ends, the United States and Russia will again become adversaries in the field of manned spaceflight. The Russian side once quipped: "I suggest that the United States send astronauts to the ISS on a trampoline." To make sure the message was clear, he also posted a picture of a trampoline with a NASA badge.
However, the United States does not have to worry too much about Russia, but should pay attention to the huge development of China's space industry. With its own space station, new spacecraft and a manned lunar landing program, China is increasingly seen as the world's second-largest space superpower.
For Boeing's Starroute spacecraft, the delay after delay is extremely embarrassing. The first manned flight, originally scheduled for May 6, failed to take place as scheduled. Originally, the mission would have sent two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station for a short stay before bringing them back to Earth to test the viability of the Starroute as an effective manned transportation system.
Photo of an unmanned test flight of the Boeing spacecraft.
After 13 years of hard work in NASA's commercial manned program (CCP), only the Dragon spacecraft succeeded, and the first manned launch of the Starline spacecraft of Boeing, an old company, has already spent a huge amount of money. But Boeing's already fragile reputation was hit again, and the ship failed to take off.
According to the plan, NASA will no longer design, build and own its spacecraft, but buy "seats" from American enterprises. A round-trip seat cost more than $55 million, billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer investment was spent on building a spacecraft, but now Boeing still hasn't fulfilled its promises.
The spacecraft can carry up to seven crew members and, if successful, will carry out multiple missions to transport people to the ISS. Boeing has also designed a new blue spacesuit, which is significantly different from the monochrome design of Musk's spacesuit.
NASA has always wanted to have two manned launch service providers, so that there is a certain degree of resilience. This competition should also lower prices, providing an opportunity to reduce costs, not only for the agency, but also for other potential customers, and to drive more and more commercial operators.
The ISS will be decommissioned by the end of the decade, and it will likely be replaced by multiple (private) space stations, so the success of the Boeing spacecraft is still necessary for NASA. But now it seems that only SpaceX is making great progress in the US aerospace industry, and other aspects are not satisfactory. Maybe they can focus more on doing their job well, instead of spending a lot of time talking bad about China's aerospace.