Boeing Starliner launch delayed to at least May 17 for Atlas 5 rocket repair

After analyzing data following a launch scrub Monday, United Launch Alliance managers decided to haul the Atlas 5 rocket carrying Boeing's Starliner astronaut ferry ship back to its processing facility to replace a suspect valve, delaying another launch try to at least May 17, NASA said in a blog post Tuesday.

The new "no-earlier-than" launch target from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — 6:16 p.m. EDT a week from Friday — will give engineers more time to carry out the valve repair while setting up a rendezvous with the International Space Station that fits into the U.S. Eastern Range launch schedule, which coordinates all rocket flights from the East Coast.

The Starliner, Boeing's long-delayed answer to SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, was grounded Monday just two hours before its planned launch on its first piloted test flight to the space station. On board were NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita Williams.