Boeing’s Starliner kicked off on its maiden voyage with two NASA astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore on 5 June, 2024.
The first crewed test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) took off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The Crew Flight Test aims to certify the spacecraft for routine space travel to and from the ISS.
It is expected to validate the entire transportation system, including the launch pad, rocket, spacecraft, in-orbit operational capabilities, and return to Earth with astronauts aboard.
Williams and Wilmore will test different capabilities of the Starliner — including how their spacesuits function inside the capsule, how the manual piloting system works if there is a need to override the autopilot and the spacecraft’s thruster system.
They will also test the crucial ‘safe haven’ capability, providing a space for astronauts to take shelter if something goes wrong at the space station.
Sunita Williams, 58, is the first woman to pilot a new spacecraft on its inaugural test flight.
Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore, 61, is a retired US Navy captain who joined the NASA astronaut corps in 2000.
The astronauts will reach the space station in 24 hours, after which, they are set to spend eight days living in the orbiting laboratory, joining the seven astronauts and cosmonauts already on board.
They will return using the same capsule and are expected to land at a location in the Southwestern United States. NASA officials shared that the earliest possible landing date is 14 June.
“This is another milestone in this extraordinary history of NASA. Today's launch is a milestone achievement for the future of spaceflight,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
The third time was a charm for the spacecraft after several issues plagued earlier attempts on 6 May and 1 June, with the latter being called off just four minutes before launch.
These difficulties included a valve issue on the Atlas V rocket and a small helium leak on the spacecraft’s service module.
A decade in the making, the Starliner earlier flew two uncrewed orbital flights, including a test to and from the space station.
If successful, this will be the second private spacecraft after SpaceX's Crew Dragon to ferry astronauts to the space station under NASA’s commercial crew programme.