SpaceX and Boeing gear up for risky space missions

Rivals Boeing and SpaceX are preparing for a busy week with upcoming key test flights of their rockets and spacecraft.

Boeing is set to launch two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station aboard its Starliner spacecraft for the third time on Wednesday. The liftoff is scheduled for 10:52 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Space Command Station in Florida.

The following day, SpaceX will conduct the fourth uncrewed test flight of its Starship megarocket. The launch will take place from SpaceX’s Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas, with a targeted liftoff time of 8 a.m. ET.

Despite being spaceflight competitors, this week’s launch serves a unique purpose: Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, developed in collaboration with NASA, will transport astronauts to the space station – a service SpaceX has been providing commercially for NASA since 2020.

Boeing’s third attempt to launch astronauts into space

Should Boeing’s initial crewed test flight succeed, it could pave the way for regular flights of its Starliner spacecraft to the space station for NASA, challenging SpaceX’s current dominance.

The Starliner will carry NASA astronauts Barry “Batch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who will spend approximately a week aboard the space station before returning to Earth and landing at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Starliner’s most recent launch attempt was halted on Saturday with less than four minutes to go due to an automatic abort triggered by a computer controlling the Atlas V rocket, created by United Launch Alliance, a collaboration between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

SpaceX’s Starship test flight on Thursday aims to demonstrate technologies critical for future moon missions.

Starship, the most powerful rocket ever developed and designed to be fully reusable, is expected to play a vital role in NASA’s plans to send astronauts back to the Moon. Additionally, SpaceX intends to use Starship for eventual missions to Mars.

NASA is also working on its own Space Launch System megarocket and Orion spacecraft for moon missions, part of the Artemis program which envisions establishing a base camp on the moon’s surface before exploring Mars.