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Two NASA astronauts arrived in the final hours before a long-awaited launch attempt aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule, marking the new spacecraft’s first crewed mission.
Starliner – which the aerospace giant designed to rival SpaceX’s prolific Crew Dragon capsule — is scheduled to lift off for its inaugural crewed test at 10:34 p.m. ET Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
NASA will webcast the event on your channels starting at 6:30 pm ET on Monday. CNN will broadcast live updates from the mission online shortly before liftoff.
Weather or technical problems can always force a rocket launch to move forward until the countdown reaches zero, but tonight’s forecast is as good as it gets. Meteorological officials said there is only one 5% chance that clouds, winds or storms will interrupt tonight’s takeoff.
This mission, dubbed Crew Flight Test, could be the last major milestone before NASA considers Boeing’s spacecraft ready for routine operations as part of the federal agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The Starliner would join SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in NASA’s effort to collaborate with private industry partners, expanding the United States’ options for transporting astronauts to the International Space Station.
The mission’s crew members are veteran astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, each of whom ventured into space on two previous trips aboard NASA’s space shuttle and Russia’s Soyuz missions.
“They’re checking a lot of systems: the life support, the manual control,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a news conference Friday. “That’s why we put two test pilots on board – and of course Butch and Suni’s CVs are extensive.”
What to expect
If all goes according to plan, the crew will board the Starliner capsule and take off atop an Atlas V rocket on Monday night. The spacecraft – which carries the astronauts – will separate from the rocket after reaching orbit and begin to fire its own engines. Starliner will then spend more than 24 hours gradually heading towards the space station, where the vehicle is expected to dock at 12:46 pm ET on Wednesday.
Williams and Wilmore will spend about a week aboard the orbiting laboratory, joining the seven astronauts and cosmonauts already on board, while the Starliner remains docked outside.
The two will return home aboard the same Starliner capsule, which is expected to parachute to land in one of several designated locations in the southwestern United States.
Boeing x SpaceX
Much depends on a smooth test flight. NASA waited half a decade for the Starliner to begin flying with a crew, and Starliner development was beset by years of delays, setbacks, and blunders. More broadly, Boeing as a company has suffered years of scandals in its aircraft division that have tarnished the aerospace giant’s legacy.
“We went through a pretty rigorous process to get here,” Mark Nappi, vice president and manager of Boeing’s Starliner program, said of the development process during Friday’s briefing. “And really where my source of confidence comes from is going through that process.”
If successful, the crew’s test flight could put Boeing in line to begin making routine trips to the space station on NASA’s behalf.
The US space agency selected Boeing to develop the Starliner – along with SpaceX and its Crew Dragon capsule – in 2014, hoping that commercial companies could create new, complementary means of transporting astronauts to the International Space Station after the shuttle program. space was withdrawn in 2011.
SpaceX finally beat Boeing to the launch pad, conducting its crewed flight test of the Crew Dragon capsule in May 2020. SpaceX has handled most of NASA’s crew transportation needs since then.
“We root for SpaceX. This is something very important for our country and very important for NASA to have this access.” Nappi said during a press conference in March. “And we look forward to providing (astronaut transportation services) as well.”
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