Boeing Starliner successfully launches 2 astronauts en route to International Space Station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Boeing Starliner spacecraft has completed a successful launch as its crewed launch of two astronauts heads to the International Space Station.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 during NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test on June 05, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The Atlas V rocket took off at 10:52 a.m. at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Starliner's maiden voyage, just the sixth inaugural journey of a crewed spacecraft in American history.
What's Starliner's mission?
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will crew the Starliner capsule, aboard an Atlas V rocket, as it heads to the International Space Station.
Wilmore and Williams aim to bring a crucial pump to the ISS to fix the space station's urine processor assembly, which processes urine into drinking water. It failed on May 29.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, Sunday, May 5, 2024 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in F
The astronauts will also test several aspects of the Starliner's capabilities before NASA can certify the craft for more missions.
It will be a weeklong mission, with the two astronauts expected to dock at around 12:15 p.m. on Thursday. Wilmore and Williams will then spend eight days living aboard the space station, joining seven astronauts and cosmonauts already on board.
After unlocking from the ISS, they'll head home, reentering the atmosphere and parachuting down in the New Mexico desert.
Why the delays?
The Starliner has attempted two launches on May 6 and Saturday and had both scrubbed, but delays on the historic launch actually trace back several years.
READ: Boeing Starliner rocket launch scrubbed right before liftoff
Since Boeing was awarded $4.2 billion from NASA to transport astronauts to and from the space station, the aerospace company has been proverbially lapped by its competitor SpaceX and racked up over $1 billion in unplanned costs.
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - MAY 06: NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Commander Butch Wilmore (L) and Pilot Suni Williams walk out of the Operations and Checkout Building on May 06, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The astronauts are heading to Boeing’s S
Its first launch scrub on May 6 came because of a faulty oxygen relief valve, according to NASA. Another planned launch date of May 14 was then scrubbed due to a helium leak in the service module.
READ: Boeing space launch: Starliner mission scrubbed two hours before liftoff with NASA astronauts
Then, most recently, on Saturday, both astronauts were onboard and the final countdown had commenced when the countdown was placed on hold and the launch scrubbed due to an issue with the computer ground launch sequencer.