The culprit is an oxygen dump valve in the Atlas V launch vehicle’s Centaur upper stage. This valve failed during pre-launch checks, exhibiting rapid opening and closing cycles and even producing an audible “buzzing” sound.
Mission leaders decided to postpone the final launch after noticing an anomaly. A revised launch date of Friday 10 May was suggested, but ultimately deemed unrealistic. Replacing a faulty valve would require transporting the entire Starliner-Atlas V unit back to the integration center, pushing the launch date even further.
The current target launch window opens May 17 at 6:16 PM EDT.
Source: Ferra
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