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Boeing goals to launch its first Starliner flight with astronauts on Wednesday, within the newest try to fly the long-delayed spacecraft.
The launch is scheduled for 10:52 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Two NASA astronauts might be aboard the Starliner capsule, which might be carried by United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket to the Worldwide House Station.
Wednesday is the newest in a collection of makes an attempt to launch the mission, which is named the Boeing crew flight check. On Saturday, a launch try was known as off within the remaining minutes of the countdown because of an issue with one of many pc’s that gives floor help to the rocket. In early Might, one other try was known as off because of a difficulty detected with the rocket itself.
If the launch is postponed once more, Boeing has a backup alternative scheduled for Thursday.
United Launch Alliance – or ULA, a three way partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin – changed the rocket’s problematic valve after the Might try and changed a defective half within the floor infrastructure pc after Saturday’s try.
The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft sits to House Launch Complicated 41 on the Kennedy House Heart in Cape Canaveral, Florida on June 3, 2024.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo | AFP | Getty Pictures
The astronauts
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams.
Credit score: Kim Shiflett | NASA
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are flying on Starliner, with the previous serving because the spacecraft’s commander and the latter as its pilot.
Wilmore joined NASA in 2000 and has flown to area twice beforehand on the House Shuttle and Russia’s Soyuz. Earlier than NASA, Wilmore was a U.S. Navy pilot.
Williams was chosen by NASA in 1998 and has additionally flown to area twice earlier than, on the House Shuttle after which the Soyuz. Williams was additionally a Navy pilot, like Wilmore, earlier than becoming a member of the area company.
The rocket and capsule
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is seen on the launch pad of House Launch Complicated-41 at Cape Canaveral House Power Station in Florida on Thursday, Might 30, 2024.
Isaac Watson | NASA
Starliner launches on ULA’s Atlas V. The rocket debuted in 2002, and the Starliner crew flight check represents its one centesimal launch.
The capsule itself is constructed to hold as many as 4 NASA astronauts per flight and greater than 200 kilos of analysis and cargo. The spacecraft lands utilizing a parachute and airbag system. Starliner is reusable, with every capsule designed to fly as many as 10 missions.
The mission
Boeing’s crew flight check goals to certify the Starliner system as able to carrying NASA astronauts to and from the ISS.
If Starliner launches on Wednesday, it’ll fly in area for about 25 hours earlier than a deliberate docking with the Worldwide House Station at 12:15 p.m. on Thursday. The astronauts will then spend a few week on the ISS, targeted on testing Starliner, earlier than returning to Earth.