Starliner finally flies with two astronauts heading to the Space Station

June 5 () –

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft took off for the first time with NASA astronauts heading to the International Space Station on June 5, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Takeoff took place at 14:52 UTC as planned.. 15 minutes into the flight, the spacecraft separated from the upper stage of the rocket. At 3:23 p.m. the ship’s engines were activated for its orbital insertion, NASA reported.

Starliner to the stars! ?

At 10:52am ET, @BoeingSpace #Starliner lifted off on a @ULALaunch Atlas V for the first time with @NASA_Astronauts aboard. This Crew Flight Test aims to certify the spacecraft for routine space travel to and from the @Space_Station. pic.twitter.com/WDQKOrE5B6

— NASA (@NASA) June 5, 2024

The first manned flight of the ship It had initially been scheduled for May 7but a valve failure on the ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket aborted the launch. A second attempt on June 1 was also interrupted automatically by a ground launch sequencer (GLS) computer just three minutes and 50 seconds after takeoff, due to a problem in a ground power supply.

NASA astronauts travel aboard the ship Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams.

The Starliner will dock autonomously to the station Thursday June 6 at 16:15 UTC and will remain in the orbital laboratory for about a week. Although the Starliner is designed to dock autonomously, astronauts aboard the spacecraft will demonstrate manual control processes and capabilities before the spacecraft makes its automated final approach.

YEARS OF DELAYS

Starliner is the result of the contract that NASA signed with Boeing and Space X to transport its astronauts to the International Space Station. While Space X’s Crew Dragon has been flying astronauts regularly to the orbital complex since May 2020, Boeing’s Starliner has suffered years of delays.

This capsule had been launched only twice so far, on uncrewed test flights to the orbital laboratory. Starliner suffered several problems on the first mission, which launched in December 2019, and failed to reach the orbital complex as planned. But he achieved it on his second attempt, in May 2022.

Externally similar to the Orion spacecraft, the reusable Starliner capsule has a diameter of 4.56 meters and is designed to be able to carry up to seven people, remain in orbit for up to seven months and be reused in up to ten missions.