Boeing Starliner launch scrubbed at the last minute

[Music] hello everyone I'm Lana Zack thank you so much for joining us here on CBS News we're counting down to the launch of Boeing Starliner spacecraft now this will be the very first time that Boeing takes humans into space I want to give you a live look at the Launchpad at Cape Canaveral space force station in Florida crews are making final checks before the launch set to take place in less than 10 minutes exactly and we do mean exactly at 12240 Eastern we saw just moments ago the crew access arm retraction and earlier today the two NASA astronauts Manning this flight were seen leaving Kennedy Space Center on their way to the Launchpad you see there Sita Sunny Williams she's the Boeing Starliner pilot and Barry Butch Wilmore is the commander of the flight the mission had originally been set to launch last month but that liftoff was postponed because of a faulty valve and a helium leak those issues now resolved and the spacecraft has been cleared to fly CBS news's John Dickerson spoke with the astronauts recently and ask them how they're feeling it's you know of course a little bit nerve-wracking but at the same time really exciting you know this everybody's ready we've trained for a long time so I I feel like we're ready right Butch I am yeah we're ready they are ready and we are as well we have Team coverage at the Kennedy Space Center including CBS News space consultant Bill Harwood and CBS News National correspondent Manuel borz and in just a couple of seconds gentlemen we are going to hear that status check for the terminal count Manny very quickly before that you're there on the ground what's the mood like you know there's a lot of excitement here they've never gotten to this far when it comes to getting Starliner with astronauts on board ready to launch I can look over on my side here and see the countdown clock it's now saying 6 4 6 minutes 48 seconds there's press out here Ling Cape Canaveral yes because of that let's go ahead and listen into that status check for the terminal count briefly Airborne go ground go facility go rfts go flight control go gcq go op support go Comm go umbilicals go Arm Control go ECS go Redline monitor go quality go up safety Manager Go Ula safety officer go vehicle system engineer go anomaly Chief go range coordinator clear to proceed flight director Houston flight is go Starliner star launch director you have permission to launch proceeding with the count ALC verify t0 is set 416 colon 25 colon 40 Zulu verified all right all all systems are a go they are ready to launch the resume they have resumed the countdown for T minus 4 minutes I'm going to go back over to Manny Manny you were telling us about how everyone is assembled there please continue that's right so you've got the Press assembled here we're able to look at the clock 5 minutes 27 seconds now but what I was going to say is earlier driving around you could see around Cape Canaveral where people pull over next to the water just civilians who want to get a sight uh at this so that just gives you sense of the excitement that's attached to this a lot of excitement Bill I'm going to bring you into the conversation as well because not just excitement there's a lot of money on the line as well NASA awarded Boeing a $4.2 billion contract to build the Starliner that was back in 2014 it was supposed to help carry astronauts to the International Space Station uh it has had some setback since then but it's a sizable investment from NASA so talk to us a bit about the significance of this Mission not just for NASA but also for the troubl Boeing Company yeah you know it's really a two-sided coin here it is expensive for the taxpayer uh $4.2 billion they originally hoped to have these spacecraft flying in the 2017 time frame they had some budget shortfalls in Congress and then Boeing ran into a string of technical problems that has pushed the flight back to now they've had to spend more than a billion dollars of their own money to fix the problems they've encountered so far uh but if all goes well today NASA hopes to certify this spacecraft to begin operational flights next year and that's important because NASA wants two separate crew fairy ships in other words one to join spacex's crew Dragon to make sure they've got a way to get people to and from the space station even if a problem grounds one of the spacecraft so it's a big mission for Boeing it's a big mission for NASA uh bill I have to say one of the highlights of my career was actually being there to see one of the last shuttle launches and covering that um but you mentioned some of the technical difficulties obviously with Boeing having to kick in 1.4 billion dollars of their own funds trying to remedy some of these I I caught my breath a little bit today when we heard that there was perhaps a problem with a sensor on one of the valves talk to us about what was happening earlier yeah those were problems with the rocket the atlas 5 rocket which is provided by United launch Alliance not by Boeing uh it was a valve problem in the system that's used to cut keep topping off the hydrogen and oxygen in the tanks of the rocket turned out that was a sensor issue they switch to a backup Telemetry string and they're okay to go so all all is good to go at this point that is good to hear so Manny let's talk a little bit more about some of the contingency plans that are in place uh there's lots obviously built into this launch and despite all systems now being go I understand that there's another a final contingency plan that takes Place less than 2 minutes before liftoff can you tell us about that well Lana before we get to that let me get to some breaking news that we're having now at 3 minutes and 50 seconds to go to uh launch the countdown clock has stopped meaning that they are scrubbing the launch we don't exactly know at this point why they are scrubbing the launch as you heard there they went through all the systems everything seemed to be a go but at 3 minutes 50 seconds to go there is a scrub of this launch so another setback as we uh will try to listen in and maybe try to figure out exactly why they are not able to launch today please yes uh Manny if you want to listen to that bill I'm going to head back over to you for your reaction to this breaking news that we just got live on the air from our own Manuel borquez who's there uh that the countdown clock has stopped despite uh all systems being go just moments before that the launch now looks like it's scrubbed what can you tell us I'm not sure you know this happened right out of the blue the countdown had been in a 4-Hour hold holding at the T-minus 4 minute point that was normal that's what they planned to do when the countdown came out at T-minus 4 minutes it stopped 10 seconds later so when they picked up the count the computers obviously detected a problem somewhere but uh you know busy talking to you and and to bny upstairs I hadn't been able to listen into the technical Loop well you know one of the technical things that I know that you know about is this point that the that the launch has to be instantaneous when I said uh they are planning for a launch uh at specifically 12 25 40 seconds there's a reason why that had to happen and it has to do with the International Space Station talk to our viewers about that I will but I I will apologize in advance because I really want to try to find out what the problem is with the rocket today they're talking in the background they're rotating the access arm from the launch Gantry back to the rocket to be able to get the crew off off the ship um now what you're talking about with the launch time is because to catch up with the International Space Station which is moving at 5 miles per second nearly up in Earth orbit they have to launch right when the station's orbit is lined up with the launch pad and that only happens twice a day and it turns out this is when it is for today so uh it's it's really orbital mechanics it is rocket science if you want to think about it that way but these flights have to go on literally rocket science I'm going to give you now an opportunity to listen in while we head back over to Manny Manny what have you been able to sort out yeah as he listens in uh we are expecting to hopefully learn more not only from the communication there from mission control but also later if there is a news conference about exactly what happened here today uh the clock down the clock now is set to 4 minutes I'm not exactly sure what that means uh but you know earlier today as we were listening in they did have a problem with the system they use to top off the fuel so they continually top off the fuel on the rocket because of a fuel burnoff that happens as it's just sitting there on the Launchpad uh there was an issue with that system uh the system that communicates with the valve that does that outside of the rocket but they had a redundancy they had a work around and they were able to do it so there was a sense that maybe that could be a problem but they were able to work around that earlier today now we're waiting to find out out what the setback is for this particular launch now they do have other opportunities to launch uh if I'm not wrong those would be Sunday and Monday right but depending on what's going on here on the ground right now if it's a bigger issue then they may have to delay it uh once again again they this is the second attempt they tried it in May here we are June 1st everybody was very hopeful and we got as close as it's gotten before to launching with astronauts on board but for now we're in hold pattern and we're still trying to figure out why and as our viewers can see there the countdown clock in the lower part of the screen provided by NASA still holding at T-minus 4 minutes and we also saw while Manny was describing the possibility for launch uh being rescheduled for the next two days that arm moving back into position so that the astronauts on board are able to uh disembark from the Starliner spacecraft you see it moving right now there on your screen Manny while we're talking about the two astronauts that are on board I'm hoping you can tell our viewers a little bit more about them well there is experienced to crew as you can get these are veteran NASA astronauts the commander Butch Wilmore the pilot Sunny Williams a bit about their resume both former Navy Pilots both have been on the space shuttle before it was retired both have served as commanders of the International Space Station they have 11 space walks between them and 500 Days in space between them so talk about being experienced both have said that they're excited to be part of this maiden voyage of Starliner with astronauts on board and that despite the setbacks and the last minute delays that they felt confident that this ship would perform as it is expected to uh so when it comes to the crew you know they were very happy uh this morning getting on there saying bye to their relatives bye uh to the NASA crew the Boeing Crews that were on the ground uh and this is again as as close as they've gotten to a launch uh it was uh you know tenuous when it came to the part where they actually had to seal and close the capsule because they were still having that issue with the way they were fueling the the the the topping off the fuel tanks uh there was a question can they close it in time you know all of this has to be timed perfectly because it has to hit the orbit just right in order to link up with the International Space Station I don't know if I'm hearing maybe an explan an explanation at this point uh in the communication there from what's Happening if we want to listen in for another second or two and then we can come back in the meantime the uh the team is active uh recycling the vehicle to a uh um a good holding state so that we can prepare for our uh next steps but for now um Roger we are uh holding at tus 4 minutes recycling the vehicle after a uh hold of our um ground launch sequencer shortly after picking up terminal count for today's launch opportunity all right I want to pop back over to that is oh sorry go sorry I was just just going to say a lot of it's very technical language so maybe if bill has any new information he can inform us that was just what I was going to do I know Bill Harwood has been uh through many launches from that very though this would have been the first one for Boeing uh Bill you've been trying to listen in and sus out what exactly took place today what have you learned well we really don't know we just heard an update from United launch Alliance uh who the builder of the rocket the ground launch sequencer that's a computer that controls the terminal phase of the countdown the final few minutes obviously encountered a problem of some sort uh it saw Telemetry data that indicated trouble uh we don't know what it was yet though uh the the the United launch Alliance person uh also didn't provide any details and so uh other than saying that the engineers are reviewing the data so it's not clear uh but you know one point as we discussed earlier anytime the countdown holds on one of these space station Rendevous missions it means you're not launching that day because as you've said before today they have to launch right on time in order to catch up with the space station so as soon as they ordered as soon as that hold was ordered we knew they weren't going to space station they've recycled the countdown to tus 4 minutes that's normal cuz that's just a standard point where they can control everything better but that doesn't mean they're launching today they are not they are definitely not we are waiting to see if that means so that they will be launching on Sunday or on Monday or at a later date all together Bill while I have you let's talk we might be hear we might be getting some might be getting some word now let's see let's listen to the NASA operations just recycle status oh recy Roger Sy LC yes LC G3 ready Roger rer no no update there they're just talking about uh safing the vehicle and recycling countdown but Bill on what caused this delay right as as we are waiting to find out what exactly caused uh this delay and when this delay will be uh remedied scheduled for we know it's not happening today uh we also know that there were some other issues that uh that we saw during um during the preparations for launch today we see a live image of the two astronauts who are on board they are waiting to disembark one of the issues that they had were with suit fans I don't know Bill if you have additional editorial information or you can just talk to our viewers about the importance of those fans in the suits uh I'm sorry I'm trying to listen at the same time to this launch director's Loop uh I don't think the fans were an issue here um they had resolved that they have redundancy in that system they switched to a backup circuit uh it's just it's just a a really disappointing setback because they clearly thought they were ready to go hang on just one second I'm sorry again this was the ground launch sequencer essentially the computer yeah Roger this is the computer that is Personnel going to operation 85 osm LC osm establish the BDA roadblocks and open the flight Hazard area Roger and all Personnel on channel one will'll be starting an approximate uh 65 minute hold at this time for flight crew egress all systems maintain T minus 4 and holding configuration all right Manny with the announcement we heard there was about ESS that means that the two astronauts are going to be disembarking momentarily we continue to watch that bill Harwood is listening in now to NASA to find out exactly the what caused this launch to be scrubbed for today and when it may be postponed for in the meantime Manny I know you've also been listening in on all of this let's talk about a bit more about the significance of this Streamliner of the investment that NASA has made into this program throw yeah not only NASA but of course Boeing has spent more than a billion dollars trying to fix a spaceship before getting to this point today that's above the budget that they had allotted so the essential thing for NASA here is to have redundancy we do know that SpaceX has been able since 2020 to get people safely to the International Space Station and back the goal was to have Boeing doing the same thing with Starliner but four years later here we are and it's been uh having all kinds of setbacks and delays including like the one you see today and again as we're waiting to find out exactly what the problem is whether we can hit the next window which opens up tomorrow uh depends largely on whether it's something that maybe they can work around on the pad but if it's something where they have to physically get in there that becomes a whole other beast and and that is why in May it didn't become a delay where they just hit the window the next day but became almost a monthlong delay so all of these things really complicated and a point to make about the automation there is that these systems are all designed that if they detect something uh they will alert and then there is a scrub uh the other thing about the automation to point out that we were going to talk about before the launch got scrubbed is that just before launch they automate uh the abort system this is a automatic abort system so if something is detected going wrong with the rocket an automatic abort would send the capsule the star Starliner with the uh astronauts safely away from the rocket before something happened they have built all these systems to detect that it's also manual the astronauts can do it themselves or Mission Control can do it too so those are some of the systems that are in place some of the redundancies that are in place if you get closer to a launch it just didn't happen today as we continue to try to find out exactly what the issue is what the possible fix will be and if they can try the next window which opens up tomorrow or whether it will be a more lengthy delay yes and as you said uh Manny the last time we had a scheduled launch was back in May 6 the delay lasted nearly a month so we have at this idea or at this time no idea exactly how long this delay will last we do know that you and Bill Harwood will bring us that information as soon as we have it in the meantime let's talk a little bit more about uh the the launch that was scheduled for May 6 talk to us if you could Manny about why it was scrubbed what had to be remedied and why they felt optimistic that today was in fact going to work well the former flight that was scheduled they found a problem with a valve on the rocket so they scrubbed it for that and then they discovered that there was a helium link uh leak I should say in the Starliner so they were able to remedy both problems but the leak uh they remedied by saying essentially look it's a small enough leak that we don't think it's going to be a problem we think we can safely launch even with that helium leaking out of the tank in fact today they said that the leak appeared to not be as bad but those were the two reasons that it was scrubbed back in May uh this isn't a because it's a test flight it's not necessarily a mission like we've seen before on the SpaceX flights where they get the astronauts to the space station they're there for months doing experiments and doing what they were going going to do the goal here was to safely get them to the International Space Station where they would spend about a week they have supplies that they're bringing up including a water purification system that broke on the International Space Station that clearly they will not be able to get up today and then they were going to come back down this is capsule is designed instead of Landing in the water which it can do in an emergency to land on land somewhere over the Southwest desert of the United States uh again that's not going to happen today but those are all the things things that they were hoping would happen to prove that they could get that full circle safely up and safely down uh Boeing had said look if we the launch goes off today without a hitch yes it'll be something that we applaud and are proud of but it won't be considered a success really until they're safely back on the ground uh they were hoping to have reason to celebrate because as you know on the commercial airline side of things there has been scrutiny about the safety culture uh over ad boing because of some highly publiced incidents including the uh door plug that flew off that 737 earlier this year uh so they were hoping to have something to celebrate that doesn't mean that we won't have the opportunity to do that maybe in another day or so but we are still waiting to get official W for why exactly this is not going to happen today yes and the key word that you said repeatedly Manny was safety we are glad that if there was a question about it that uh that the decision was made to stop it I also think Manny personally that one of the most interesting things about this was the the redund redundancy that's built into all these contingency plans uh as you just said the ability then for the astronauts to launch off of this if uh if they didn't have um everything up to Snuff that that was actually a safety mechanism that's built in um I'm going to P I'm going to go back over to Bill though because I believe that Bill's been listening in he's been working his sources he has an update for us Bill what can you tell us yeah they're saying that the the scrub was triggered by the ground launch sequencer that's the computer that controls the final moments of the countdown they're saying some configuration files did not load properly when the countdown came out of that final hold at tus 4 minutes now we don't know what the details of that are but if it's a software problem yeah this might be something they can in fact correct quickly uh they've already said they're protectively configuring the Launchpad and the rocket for a possible launch attempt tomorrow uh if the problem can be resolved so they're going to they're going to shoot for that 24-hour turnaround if they can we still haven't heard yet though uh what the nature of the problem was with the ground launch sequencer so it may not be possible but at least we got our fingers crossed there might be a shot at it well you know when it comes down to uh needing it to come help load the software glad that uh that we know more about what potentially was behind it and the possibility that both of you will rejoin me tomorrow as we try it all again Manny Bor Bill Harwood want to thank you both so much we'll of course continue to follow the latest developments and bring you the latest on a new launch date as you see it there the countdown clock locked at T-minus 4 minutes we will continue to bring you updates throughout the day thanks for watching I'm Lana Zach and you are streaming CBS News 247

Channel: CBS News

Views: 13,826

Keywords: CBS News, video, live streaming, live video, boeing, florida, cape canaveral, space, starliner

Id: ghGBXV0581A

Length: 23min 53sec (1433 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 01 2024