A landmark event for NASA and the US aerospace industry, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is scheduled to transport humans to the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday after years of delays.
The flight is crucial for Boeing, whose reputation has recently suffered owing to safety difficulties with its passenger jets. It is the last test before Starliner begins regular service for the space agency.
The stakes are very high for NASA as well: Beyond SpaceX’s Dragon ships, having another alternative for human space transportation is “really important,” according to Dana Weigel, manager of the company’s International Space Station program.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are set to take off from Cape Canaveral at 10:34 pm Monday (0234 GMT Tuesday), if favorable weather predicted for the launch continues to hold.
Starliner will be propelled into orbit by an Atlas V rocket made by United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture.
One of Wilmore and Williams’s responsibilities once in space will be to test the craft’s temporary manual piloting.
The two astronauts are veterans of the space program with training from the Navy. They have each visited the ISS twice, first on a shuttle and later on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
“It’s going to be like going back home,” Williams said ahead of the launch.
As for the Boeing spacecraft, Wilmore said: “Everything is new.”
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