On Monday, NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams will launch aboard Boeing Starliner – the partially reusable commercial vehicle that will bring people from the United States to the International Space Station (ISS) and other locations in low-Earth orbit, such as future .
The Monday test is the third and final orbital flight test for and the first one with crew on board. Just like SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, Starliner will ferry astronauts. But it has taken a much longer time to get to this stage than SpaceX, whose first crewed mission was , did.
Starliner had its first crewed flight test planned for 2017 but it was postponed time and time again. The latest postponement moved this test from last August to this month, to resolve issues with the parachute system and wiring harnesses among others.
“We’ve been through training and we have our fingerprints on every single procedure that exists for this spacecraft,” said Wilmore in a . “We’re fully trained in all aspects of Starliner.”
“We feel very safe and very comfortable when this spacecraft flies,” added Williams. “This is where we’re supposed to be.”
The launch is expected at 10:34 pm local time from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Starliner will fly to space on top of an Atlas V rocket. Wilmore and Williams will spend about one week on the ISS before getting back into Starliner and landing in the American Southwest. A parachute will slow down the descent to 6.4 kilometers (4 miles) per hour and the capsule will be cushioned by six airbags.
In orbit, Starliner will be tested as a “safe haven” – a protected environment within the space station that could be used in case of emergency. In the future, the capsule will stay up to seven months in space and each Starliner can be reused up to 10 times.
Starliner is going to be attached to the Harmony port on the ISS and this has caused some necessary rearrangement in orbit. The Crew-8 Capsule from the Harmony port to the Zenith port to make sure Harmony was free for Starliner once it docks with the ISS on Wednesday, May 8.
If everything goes well, both in orbit and with the landing and successful recovery, NASA will certify the spacecraft as an operational crew system for long-duration rotation missions to the space station. Starliner will then begin bringing astronauts to the ISS in 2025.
The launch will be streamed live in the video link above, on NASA+, and on the agency’s social channels.