Starliner crew ready for launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first crewed flight test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is scheduled for Monday, May 6, at 10:34 p.m.

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The craft will launch to the International Space Station atop a ULA Atlas V rocket.

On Wednesday afternoon, the veteran astronauts who’ll fly NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test spoke about the flight from crew quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center.

“We’ve been through quite the process over the years,” astronaut Butch Wilmore said. “And it’s been a thrilling process to be two Navy-trained test pilots and go through the process of this first flight.”

Read: Boeing’s Starliner flight test: Meet the astronauts

The Starliner flew its first uncrewed flight test in 2019 but failed to reach the space station.

The Starliner reached its destination during the second uncrewed orbital flight test in May of 2022.

But teams still had to resolve issues with the spacecraft’s parachute system and remove miles of tape that posed a potential flammability risk ahead of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test.

Read: ‘Where the rubber meets the road’: Starliner test flight crew arrives at Kennedy Space Center

Now, teams have resolved those issues.

Wilmore and Williams will spend about a week at the space station testing the Starliner’s systems before they make a parachute and airbag-assisted landing over the Southwestern U.S.

Unlike the SpaceX Crew Dragon, there’s no splashdown for the Starliner.

“Everyone who’s going to come behind us and fly this spacecraft, we want to make it as best as possible,” Williams said.

A successful mission will bring NASA a step closer to certifying the Boeing Starliner to fly future crew rotation missions to the space station like the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

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