Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams are set to make history as the first crew to launch aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday.
The mission marks a significant milestone in Nasa's Commercial Crew Program, which aims to provide safe and reliable transportation for astronauts to and from the orbiting laboratory.
The launch readiness review, held earlier at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, confirmed that all systems, facilities, and teams supporting the test flight are ready for liftoff.
The integrated United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket and Starliner spacecraft stack rolled out to the pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on May 30, signaling the final preparations for the mission.
Wilmore and Williams have been in preflight quarantine at the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building since their return to the Florida spaceport on May 28. The duo, both seasoned space travelers, will embark on a week-long mission to the ISS, testing the Starliner spacecraft's capabilities and demonstrating its readiness for operational crew flights.
The Starliner spacecraft, built by Boeing in collaboration with Nasa, is designed to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. The Crew Flight Test mission will verify the spacecraft's systems, including life support, manual control, and propulsion. The spacecraft will then return to Earth, landing in the southwestern United States via parachute and airbag-assisted landing.
The success of this mission will pave the way for regular crew rotation flights to the ISS, marking a significant step forward in Nasa's Commercial Crew Program. The agency awarded billion-dollar-scale contracts to both SpaceX and Boeing in 2014, with the goal of sending astronauts to the ISS by 2017.
Both vehicles experienced delays due to technical and funding challenges, but SpaceX successfully completed its first crewed test in 2020, followed by 11 additional missions to the ISS.
The Starliner spacecraft has faced its own challenges, including a software glitch in its initial ISS mission in 2019 and a delay in 2023 due to concerns with the parachutes and flammable tape on the wiring.
However, the spacecraft has since undergone extensive testing and modifications, and the Crew Flight Test mission is expected to demonstrate its capabilities in supporting human life and conducting research in space.
The launch is scheduled for 9:55 pm IST on June 1, with a 90% chance of favourable weather conditions.
However, if the mission does not take off today, additional launch windows are available on June 2, June 5, and June 6.
