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Boeing ’s Starliner spacecraft is formally on its way to the International Space Station , stigmatize an historical first for the long - check spaceman transport broadcast . Inside the spacecraft are two NASA spaceman — spaceflight oldtimer Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — who are arrange to arrive to the station on Thursday .
The space vehicle lifted off at 10:55 a.m. ET from NASA ’s Kennedy Space Center aboard an Atlas V skyrocket from United Launch Alliance ( a Boeing - Lockheed Martin joint speculation ) . The liftoff comes after a string of delays that pushed the mission back by nearly a calendar month , first due to issues with the Atlas rocket and later due to a job with one of the three ground computing machine responsible for the launching countdown .
While there are more milestone Starliner must hit before Boeing and NASA can call the deputation a succeeder — docking to the ISS and eventually render the astronauts back to Earth — it ’s still a historic jump forwards for the aerospace goliath ’s long - delayed astronaut transportation program .
If all survive to design , Boeing will become NASA ’s 2nd spaceman transportation supplier , join Elon Musk ’s SpaceX. Both company were awarded multi - billion - one dollar bill NASA contracts to educate a crewed taxicab service a decade ago , but Boeing ’s program has been plague by technical delays that have execute the party more than $ 1.5 billion over budget . Boeing did execute a successfuluncrewed mission to the ISS in May 2022 , but this is the first sentence the spacecraft has carry homo .
While Boeing has clamber , SpaceX has soared : Using its Crew Dragon space capsule , SpaceX has been leave astronaut exile to and from the ISS since 2020 .
Wilmore and Williams will make an around 26 - minute journeying to the ISS , with an awaited arrival of around 12:15 p.m. EST Thursday . During their journey , they ’ll do a handful of flight test objective to plump for Strainer ’s certification for regular missionary work . They ’ll need to march the carrying out of bunch equipment from prelaunch to ascension , and assess Starliner ’s thrust performance , trial sailing organization , lead communication checkout , and pass judgment life - support system of rules .
Even after Starliner autonomously docks to the station and the crew are onboard the ISS , the two astronauts will evaluate even more of the spacecraft ’s performance , including determining whether it can act as a “ dependable haven ” for astronauts in the improbable case of an issue aboard the space post .
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Wilmore and Williams will remain onboard the post for around a week before reboarding the spacecraft . After just six hours , Starliner is expected to make a landing under parachutes and assist by airbags somewhere in the southwestern United States .
This is the last major step before Starliner can be certified as an operational crew organization , and the first Starliner delegacy is expect to launch in 2025 .
