The delay, prompted by an issue with the launchpad’s ground system, further hindered the return of the two NASA astronauts who in June flew to the space station aboard the troubled Starliner.

Reaching orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the newest crew includes NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, both military pilots; and Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, both former airline pilots. They will spend the next six months at the space station, considered the normal stint, after springing Wilmore and Williams free.