In a significant milestone for Boeing, the aerospace giant launched its first Starliner flight with astronauts on board on Wednesday, marking a crucial final flight test for the much-delayed spacecraft.
The launch took place at 10:52 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with two NASA astronauts aboard the spacecraft.
The Starliner, carried by a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket, is destined for the International Space Station (ISS). Approximately 15 minutes post-launch, the rocket successfully released the Starliner capsule into orbit, as per the mission plan. Mission control confirmed that the flight was proceeding as expected.
Although the Starliner is equipped with cameras to capture both interior and exterior views of the cabin, Boeing will not be able to transmit the video footage back to Earth until the spacecraft reaches the ISS. The Starliner is set to spend about 25 hours in space before docking with the ISS at 12:15 p.m. on Thursday. The astronauts will then spend approximately a week on the ISS, focusing on testing the Starliner, before making their return journey to Earth.
The primary objective of Boeing's crew flight test is to certify the Starliner system as capable of transporting NASA astronauts to and from the ISS. This launch comes after a series of attempts to get the mission off the ground. A launch attempt on Saturday was aborted in the final minutes of the countdown due to an issue with one of the ground support computers. Another attempt in early May was also called off due to a problem detected with the rocket itself.
ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, addressed these issues by replacing the rocket's faulty valve after the May attempt and replacing a defective part in the ground infrastructure computer after Saturday's attempt. In between these two attempts, NASA and Boeing discovered a minor helium leak in the Starliner, prompting another series of assessments.
Following an investigation, NASA and Boeing identified the source of the leak in the spacecraft's helium propulsion system. However, officials assured that the leak was stable and did not pose a safety risk for the flight.
The debut of Starliner's crew has been delayed by several years, while SpaceX's rival Dragon capsule has been regularly ferrying astronauts for NASA since 2020 under the agency's Commercial Crew program. Boeing has absorbed $1.5 billion in costs due to Starliner setbacks and nearly $5 billion of NASA development funds.
Once seen as a competitor to SpaceX's Dragon, a series of setbacks and delays have relegated Starliner to a backup position for NASA. The space agency even took the unusual step of reassigning astronauts off the first Boeing crew flights in 2021.
Boeing is contracted to fly six operational Starliner missions to the ISS. Shortly after Wednesday's launch, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell posted a congratulatory message on social media, wishing "Godspeed to Butch, Suni and Starliner on your flight!"
The astronauts on board the Starliner, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, have both previously flown to space. Wilmore, the spacecraft's commander, and Williams, its pilot, both served as U.S. Navy pilots before joining NASA.
The Starliner was launched on ULA's Atlas V, marking the rocket's 100th launch since its debut in 2002. The capsule is designed to carry up to four NASA astronauts per flight and over 200 pounds of research and cargo. The spacecraft, which lands using a parachute and airbag system, is reusable, with each capsule designed to fly as many as 10 missions.
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