NASA reschedules Boeing's Starliner launch for later this week

NASA has rescheduled the launch of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, passing on a possible Sunday launch window.

The agency said that the delay will allow crews to assess the ground support equipment issue that felled Saturday's launch in a Sunday blog post.

The next available launch opportunities are Wednesday, June 5, and Thursday, June 6.

NASA said the launch attempt was stopped "due to the computer ground launch sequencer not loading into the correct operational configuration after proceeding into terminal count," in a post on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter.

The launch was scrubbed about 4 minutes before liftoff. The scrubbing follows several delays including, most recently, a May 6 launch halted by a series of technical issues, an oxygen leak and a helium leak from the capsule's propulsion system.

What is the mission for Boeing's Starliner?

The Boeing Crew Flight Test is meant to carry two NASA astronauts: Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams, both former Navy pilots, to and from the International Space Station.

Once on board, Wilmore and Williams will stay at the ISS for about a week to test the Starliner spacecraft and its subsystems.

NASA launches are streamed on USA TODAY's YouTube channel and through NASA via NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, on YouTube or on the agency's website.

What is the Boeing Starliner?

The Starliner was designed to accommodate a crew of no more than seven for missions to low-Earth orbit. On NASA missions, the capsule would carry four astronauts along with a mix of cargo and other scientific instruments to and from the space station.

If Starliner is successful, NASA will begin the final process of certifying the spacecraft and its systems for crewed rotation missions to the space station, according to the U.S. space agency.

Boeing was awarded $4.8 billion from NASA in 2014 to develop Starliner, a private industry-built vehicle that can ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Competitor, SpaceX, which recently saw the return of its eighth crew sent to the ISS, was awarded $3.1 billion to develop its respective spacecraft, as part of NASA’s commercial crew program. NASA has also paid SpaceX $2.9 billion to develop the first commercial human lander for the agency's Artemis moon missions and eventually trips to Mars.

Contributing: Eric Lagatta