On May 6, NASA and Boeing plan to launch the first manned Starliner mission into space — a capsule manufactured by the North American aviation company. The Boeing spacecraft will be launched for a two-week mission to the ISS (International Space Station).
The mission will carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. This will be the ship’s first flight with a crew on board, making it one of the main competitors of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The flight is planned to take place at 11:30 pm (Brasília time) on the 6th, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida. NASA will stream the launch directly on its YouTube profile.
“Since last year, we have done everything we can to ensure nothing goes unnoticed. For this mission, all steps of the certification process are being completed, with safety as the number one priority,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, at a conference.
Expectations for the launch of Boeing
The launch has been eagerly awaited. This is because the equipment from Boeing — one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers — has been developed for almost 15 years.
This is because the company faced difficulties and delays in manufacturing the spacecraft. In 2019, for example, during the first unmanned test, it failed to reach the planned orbit due to technical problems. Fortunately, in 2022, the ship — also without astronauts on board — managed to dock with the ISS. She spent 5 days in orbit before returning safely to Earth.
Photo of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft approaching the ISS, in 2022. Image: NASA/Disclosure
Now, it is expected that Starliner will (finally) be able to transport the two astronauts with the help of an Atlas V rocket, developed by another North American company, Lockheed Martin (responsible for the Artemis mission ship). NASA plans for astronauts to spend about a week on the ISS, carrying out certification tests on the new spacecraft.
The Starliner is 5 meters high and 4.6 meters in diameter. Like Spacex’s rival Crew Dragon, Boeing’s spacecraft is also reusable, but can carry up to seven people (at SpaceX there are only 4).
To date, it is estimated that the company has exceeded its original budget and has already spent more than US$1.5 billion on the project. In fact, the company is also experiencing an image problem, after a plane lost one of its doors mid-flight.
On the other hand, if the mission is successful and achieves NASA certifications, Boeing will become the second provider of crewed and cargo flights to the ISS. Currently, only SpaceX has achieved this feat.
