Boeing’s biggest competitor in the space race, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, was among the first persons to congratulate the company as its much-delayed Starliner capsule launched towards the International Space Station (ISS) with its two-member crew on Wednesday.
The first crew of CST-100 Starliner, comprising astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on an Atlas V rocket, produced by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The test mission, which comes after years of delay because of technical problems, is critical to Boeing’s space ambitions and is a follow-up of its 2022 crewless mission. It will take the Starliner approximately 24 hours to reach ISS, which orbits roughly 400 kilometers above Earth.
The successful liftoff was at 10:52 Eastern Time (18:52 UAE time).
Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator, commented afterward: “Two bold NASA astronauts are well on their way on this historic first test flight of a brand-new spacecraft. Boeing’s Starliner marks a new chapter of American exploration. Human spaceflight is a daring task – but that’s why it’s worth doing. It’s an exciting time for NASA, our commercial partners, and the future of exploration. Go Starliner, Go Butch and Suni!”
Boeing’s reusable Starliner
The successful liftoff comes at a time when Boeing has been rocked by a series of issues with its commercial airplane operations and was important as the Starliner venture was taking a lot of heat for being behind schedule and nearly $1.5 billion over budget.
Starliner, developed with NASA funding, is Boeing’s answer to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, which has been the agency’s only vehicle for sending crew to ISS since 2020. Like Crew Dragon, Starliner is reusable.
Crew Dragon has flown nine NASA astronaut missions to the ISS and four private customer missions since 2020.
And Musk, whose SpaceX is planning its own fourth test flight of Starship today (approximately 4 PM UAE time Thursday and live on SpaceX’s X account), was quick to repost NASA’s post and said: “Congratulations on a successful launch!”
Starliner’s first two launch attempts with astronauts were halted in the last minute. On May 6, the countdown was halted two hours before liftoff over three issues. Last Saturday’s attempt was halted less than four minutes before liftoff because of a launchpad computer glitch.
Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Starliner program chief, said: “It all lined up… We had just a perfect countdown and launch. It’s been a long time coming. And we’re really, really proud.”
Wilmore, 61, and Williams, 58, are veteran NASA astronauts. They have spent a combined 500 days in space over the course of two ISS missions each.
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