Boeing’s 1st astronaut flight to space delayed until July

By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Boeing’s first launch of astronauts has been delayed again, this time until July. NASA announced the latest postponement Wednesday, saying more time is needed to certify the Starliner capsule that will blast off with two test pilots. Additional software testing is also underway. Boeing already was running years behind schedule when it had to repeat its test flight without a crew to the International Space Station because of software and other problems. NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX a decade ago to ferry astronauts to and from the orbiting lab. SpaceX launched its seventh NASA crew earlier this month.