Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is gearing up for its inaugural manned mission

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft approaches the International Space Station

NASA

Boeing’s Starliner capsule finally makes its first manned flight. It is scheduled to launch on May 6 from Cape Canaveral, Florida atop an Atlas V rocket. If the launch goes as planned, Starliner and its two passengers will arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) on May 8th.

Starliner has been in development for more than a decade, but its first test flight didn’t take place until 2019. The flight reached orbit, but a software issue prevented it from merging with the ISS. The second unmanned test flight in 2022 was successful, setting the stage for the first manned test.

The two test astronauts aboard Starliner are Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, each of whom has been to the ISS twice before. The plan is to stay on the ISS for a week before returning to Earth.

The mission’s goal is to prove Starliner is a safe option for transporting crew to and from the ISS, and most of its objectives include testing the spacecraft and its software. This is also the first time the Atlas V rocket will be used for a manned mission. If all goes well, Starliner will be cleared for operation and manned flights will begin every year.

NASA signed a contract with Boeing in 2014 to use the Starliner as a shuttle to the ISS, and at the same time SpaceX signed a similar contract for the Dragon capsule. Boeing is trailing Dragon, which completed its first successful crewed flight in 2020 and is currently on its eighth operational mission.

Once both are operational, NASA will be able to choose whether to go to the ISS, something that hasn’t been the case since the Space Shuttle’s retirement in 2011. “This gives us additional capabilities, because we’re always looking for backups,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at a May 3 press conference. SpaceX has dominated U.S. human spaceflight for years, so this could be the beginning of a broader playing field.