NASA calls off Boeing’s Starliner launch, rescheduled for Wednesday

CAPE CANAVERAL, FlA. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Boeing's first Starliner flight with astronauts on board was called off minutes before launch on Saturday.

The launch was scrubbed with less than four minutes to go in the countdown.

NASA says the automatic hold was triggered by the ground launch sequencer, which is a computer that helps launch the rocket.

Two NASA astronauts on board are safe. They were set to go to the International Space Station (ISS) for Boeing's crew flight test.

"I know it's a little disappointing. We were all excited. Butch and Suni were excited to fly. This is kind of the way space flight is," said Steve Stich, Manager of NASA Commercial Crew Program.

"The leading suspect would be either a hardware problem or a problem with the network communication between the three computers and the system that interrogates them. But, we won't really know until we get physical access and troubleshoot that one rack that has this one card that came up slow."

Tony Bruno, President and CEO, United Launch Alliance

NASA says the next available launch opportunity is on Wednesday, June 5.