Boeing is about to launch astronauts aboard a new capsule, the latest entry into space travel

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — After years of delays and stumbles, Boeing is finally ready to launch astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA.

It’s the first flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule with a crew on board, two NASA pilots who will check out the spacecraft during the test drive and a week-long stay at the space station.

NASA turned to US companies for astronaut travel after the space shuttles were retired. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has made nine taxi trips for NASA since 2020, while Boeing has managed just two unoccupied test flights.

Boeing program manager Mark Nappi wishes Starliner was further along. “There’s no doubt about it, but we’re here now.”

The company’s long-awaited astronaut demonstration is scheduled to take off on Monday night.

As long as this test goes well, NASA will alternate between Boeing and SpaceX to fly astronauts to and from the space station.

A look at the newest ride and its shakedown cruise:

THE CAPSULE

White with black and blue accents, Boeing’s Starliner capsule is about 10 feet (3 meters) tall and 15 feet (4.5 meters) in diameter. It can accommodate up to seven people, although NASA crews typically number four. The company chose the Starliner name nearly a decade ago, a variation on the name of Boeing’s former Stratoliner and current Dreamliner.

No one was on board Boeing’s two previous Starliner test flights. The first, in 2019, was hit by software problems so severe that its empty capsule failed to reach the station until the second attempt in 2022. Then, last summer, weak parachutes and flammable tapes emerged that needed to be repaired or removed.

THE CREW

Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are retired Navy captains who spent months aboard the space station years ago. They joined the test flight after the original crew dropped out as delays mounted. Wilmore, 61, is a former combat pilot from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, and Williams, 58, is a helicopter pilot from Needham, Massachusetts. The pair were involved in the development of the capsule and insist the Starliner is ready for prime time, otherwise they would not have prepared for launch.

“We’re not putting our head in the sand,” Williams told the Associated Press. “Of course, Boeing had its problems. But we are the QA (quality assurance). Our eyes are on the spacecraft.”

THE TEST FLIGHT

Starliner will lift off on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It will be the first time astronauts have flown an Atlas since NASA’s Project Mercury, starting with John Glenn, when he became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. Sixty-two years later, this will be the 100th launch of the Atlas V, which is used to lift satellites and also spacecraft.

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“We are super careful on every mission. We are extremely careful” about human missions, said Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Starliner is expected to reach the space station in approximately 26 hours. The station’s seven residents will be keeping an eye on the approaching capsule. The arrival of a new vehicle is “a really big deal. You don’t leave anything to chance,” NASA astronaut Michael Barratt told the AP from orbit. The Starliner will remain docked for eight days, undergoing checks before landing in New Mexico or elsewhere in the United States. West.

ESTRELALINER VS. DRAGON

Capsules from both companies are designed to be self-contained and reusable. This Starliner is the same one that made the first test flight in 2019. Unlike the SpaceX Dragons, the Starliner has traditional hand controls and switches alongside touchscreens and, according to astronauts, is more similar to SpaceX’s Orion capsules. NASA for lunar missions. Wilmore and Williams will briefly take manual control to twist systems en route to the space station.

NASA gave Boeing, a longtime space contractor, more than $4 billion to develop the capsule, while SpaceX received $2.6 billion. SpaceX was already in the station delivery business and just remodeled its cargo capsule for the crew. While SpaceX uses the boss’s Teslas to take astronauts to the launch pad, Boeing will use a more traditional “astrovan” equipped with a video screen that Wilmore says will play “Top Gun: Maverick.”

A big difference at the end of the flight: the Starliner lands on the ground with shock absorbing airbags, while the Dragon splashes into the sea.

THE FUTURE

Boeing is committed to six Starliner voyages for NASA after this one, which will take the company to the station’s planned end in 2030. Boeing’s Nappi is reluctant to discuss other potential customers until this inaugural crew flight is over. But the company said a fifth seat will be available for private customers. SpaceX periodically sells seats to tycoons and even countries eager to take their citizens to the station for a few weeks.

Coming soon: Sierra Space’s minibus, Dream Chaser, which will deliver cargo to the station later this year or next before accepting passengers.

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