ASTRONAUTS are hours away from taking off on a Boeing rocket, after years of delays.
Two NASA astronauts will take a ride on the Starliner towards the International Space Station (ISS).
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The spacecraft suffered several setbacks due to technical problems – a manned mission was initially planned for 2018.
It’s a crucial moment for Boeing to prove that the CST-100 Starliner is safe for routine space travel in hopes of eventually taking people to Mars.
The trip will take commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, and pilot Suni Williams, 58.
Wilmore is a retired Navy captain who has spent about 178 days in space since his first of two space missions in 2009.
And Williams is a former Navy test pilot with experience flying 30 different aircraft and 322 days spent in space on two missions since her first flight in 2007.
“I think it will be like coming home – we’ve both lived there for six months and we know the space station well,” Williams said.
Wilmore added, “I don’t think any of us ever dreamed that we would be associated with the first flight of an entirely new spacecraft.”
They will spend about a week on the ISS.
WHY THIS MISSION IS SO IMPORTANT TO BOEING
Analysis by Jamie Harris, senior technology and science reporter at The Sun
This moment has been a long time coming for Boeing.
The company attempted to send an unmanned Starliner to the ISS in 2019, but failed due to a series of problems – not to mention the disruption caused by the pandemic – and returned to Earth early.
A second unmanned test took place well into 2022, but a year later, experts discovered new problems that delayed a launch carrying astronauts.
Of course, safety comes first, so it’s a necessary step.
Experts working on the billion-dollar project tried to minimize the delay.
“I don’t find it frustrating at all,” Boeing program manager Mark Nappi recently told the press.
“We would have liked to have gone further at this point. There’s no doubt about that. But we’re here, prepared and ready to fly.”
Space is also an expensive business, so Boeing – and NASA – need this mission to succeed.
The development problems cost the company a whopping $1.5 billion in fees, as well as about $325 million for NASA in incentives for Boeing’s $4.2 billion fixed-price Starliner contract, according to records of titles and hiring data reviewed by Reuters.
NASA also needs this to work if it wants to keep up with China, which is making huge advances to the Moon and beyond.
The aerospace giant has long been involved in NASA’s manned spacecraft program, receiving more than $4 billion to develop and fly the Starliner in 2014.
Boeing is competing with companies like SpaceX to provide equipment for future NASA missions and has spent nearly $600 million to fix engineering setbacks caused by previous accidents.
The CST-100 Starliner will finally take off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:34pm local time tonight – which is the early hours of Tuesday in the UK at 3:34am BST.
THE NEW SPACE RACE
When private companies like SpaceX started reducing the cost of going into orbit, it was like a shot in the arm in the new-age space race.
The USA, Russia, China, Japan and India have intensified their space exploration plans.
The US officially claimed the lunar south pole with the successful Odysseus Moon landing earlier this year.
But China is also moving forward, having recently launched Chang’e-6 to the other side in an attempt to be the first to bring rocks back from the south pole.
A bold video also exposes China’s enormous lunar ambitions.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is concerned that China will try to take over the Moon.
Elsewhere, India made history by becoming the first country to land near the southern site.
Russia also made an attempt to build the South Pole, but it ended in an embarrassing accident.
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