The third try at a crewed launch of the Boeing Starliner was successful. On Wednesday at 10:52AM ET, the spacecraft lifted off atop the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and now has reached a “secure, secure orbit.”
The Starliner will convey NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams to the Worldwide House Station about 24 hours from now, the place they’ll “take a look at the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner system, together with launch, docking, and return to Earth.” The 2 astronauts will keep on the ISS for a few week earlier than parachuting down within the western portion of the US.
This launch has been within the works for the reason that begin of NASA’s Industrial Crew Program in 2014, selecting Boeing and SpaceX as its two non-public companions to shuttle astronauts to the ISS and again. Boeing acquired $4.2 billion to develop Starliner, however since then, it’s had years of issues, whereas SpaceX’s Crew Dragon soared forward.
Starliner’s first uncrewed launch in 2019 resulted in failure, but it surely lastly docked with the ISS in 2022. Starliner later made its first launch try with astronauts on board in Could 2024, however NASA scrubbed the mission attributable to a defective oxygen aid valve on the ULA Atlas V rocket’s second stage. The second try, on June 1st, was scrubbed simply minutes earlier than takeoff due to points with one of many ULA’s floor computer systems.
