Get the latest tech news

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft may finally take its first crewed flight next week

Boeing's Starliner crew capsule is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex-41 in Florida on Monday, May 6. The launch window opens at 10:34PM ET. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will be on board.

Boeing was chosen 10 years ago alongside SpaceX to develop a spacecraft that could ferry astronauts from US soil to the International Space Station (ISS), thus allowing NASA to end its reliance on Russia for crewed flights. On its previous attempt, in 2019, Starliner failed to make it all the way to the ISS thanks to a software issue that resulted in it burning too much fuel (one of a few problems Boeing missed after it opted at the time not to do end-to-end testing). It’s expected to take about 24 hours for Starliner to reach the ISS after it lifts off, and as this is a test flight, its onboard crew will have a lengthy task list of systems and equipment checks to complete across every phase of the journey.

Get the Android app