Boeing's Starliner capsule set for first astronaut-crewed flight to Space Station
A new journey into space is set for blast off on Monday as The Boeing Company’s Starliner capsule prepares for its first astronaut-crewed flight to the International Space Station after years of delays.
The Starliner Crew Flight Test, developed in collaboration with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, will launch from Space Launch Complex-41 atop an Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:34 p.m. ET.
The Starliner is designed to carry a seven-person crew, but aboard this “test drive” launch will be NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore, 61, a former U.S. Navy captain who will be commanding the flight, and Sunita Williams, 58, a former Navy service member who will be piloting the flight.
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore exit the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a mission dress rehearsal, April 26, 2024.
The astronauts have been sleeping an adjusted schedule to prepare for this mission and were scheduled to wake up Monday at 3:45 p.m. ET and depart for the launch pad at 7:15 p.m. ET.
After takeoff, the capsule is scheduled to reach the ISS in 26 hours. Wilmore and Williams will stay at the station for nearly a week before returning to Earth aboard the Starliner once more.
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Monday marks the first crewed flight for Boeing’s Starliner, which has faced several setbacks and delays along its rival journey with Space X’s Crew Dragon, also a part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Boeing’s Starliner capsule atop an Atlas V rocket is rolled out to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41, May 4, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
During the Starliner’s first test launch in 2019, the unpiloted capsule failed to make it to the space station because a software error stopped the capsule’s flight computer from loading the correct launch time, according to the aerospace company at the time.
The second official launch, also unpiloted, came in May 2022 and was a success, Boeing said at the time, with the Starliner reaching and docking at the space station and safely returning and landing back on Earth.
Despite the success, crews found issues with the capsule’s parachute system and that adhesive tape used to cover wiring on the spacecraft could be flammable, according to Boeing.
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These issues ultimately delayed Boeing’s planned, crewed launch another year, from 2023 to 2024.
During a press conference last week, Mark Nappi, Boeing vice president and program manager of the Commercial Crew Program maintained, “We are to a state now where we are ready to perform the test flight.”
“I’ve never felt readier on any mission that I’ve ever participated in,” he said.