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Starliner launch schedule released for May 6 launch
NASA has released its launch schedule for Boeing Starliner’s historic first flight with astronauts, which will take place no earlier than Monday (May 6) at 10:34 pm EDT.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, both former US Navy test pilots, will fly their mission to the International Space Station for approximately a week to certify Starliner for future half-year missions. They will also be the first astronauts to ride aboard United Launch Alliance (ULA)’s Atlas V rocket. Liftoff will take place from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center near Orlando, Florida.
Coverage will run live here at Space.com, via NASA Television. All major events for Starliner’s flight are listed below. Timings for events below are in EDT.
Wednesday, May 1
1:30 pm – Virtual news conference at Kennedy with the flight test astronauts:
Friday, May 3
12:30 pm – Prelaunch news conference at Kennedy (no earlier than one hour after completion of the Launch Readiness Review) with the following participants:
3:30 pm – NASA Social panel live stream event at Kennedy with the following participants:
Monday, May 6
6:30 pm – Launch coverage begins.
10.34 pm – Launch.
Tuesday, May 7
12 am – Postlaunch news conference with the following participants:
Boeing Starliner astronauts 1 week away from launch
NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Suni Williams finished a big dress rehearsal for their Boeing Starliner mission on Friday (April 26) near their launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Their quarantined training continues for a scheduled May 6 liftoff to the International Space Station, one week from today.
Williams and Wilmore also recently performed a video tour of one of their simulators, called the Boeing Mission Trainer, to demonstrate procedures for launch and landing. The simulator is housed at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Their mission, Crew Flight Test, passed its latest flight readiness review on Thursday (April 25), although as with all launches, safety and weather checks it will continue all the way through the time it lifts off. The mission is expected to last about a week to certify future half-year operational excursions, starting with Starliner-1 in 2025.
Read more: Boeing Starliner astronauts conduct dress rehearsal ahead of May 6 launch (photos, video)
1st Starliner astronauts finish dress rehearsal before May 6 launch
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams finished a big dress rehearsal before their historic launch upon Boeing Starliner no earlier than May 6, agency officials said Friday (April 26) hours after the rehearsal finished.
“Wilmore and Williams completed a series of launch day milestones including suiting up, working in a flight deck simulator, and operating the same software that will be used during the launch,” NASA officials wrote in a blog post on Friday (April 26).
The rehearsal took place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Orlando, Florida and included a countdown procedure with the Starliner spacecraft, which is on top of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will carry it to the International Space Station (ISS).
The one-week Crew Flight Test passed its latest flight readiness review with NASA on Thursday (April 25). CFT, the first Starliner mission with astronauts, aims to certify the spacecraft for six-month missions to the ISS that may start as soon as 2025. Read more about Starliner being “go for launch” here at Space.com.
Starliner astronauts arrive at launch site
The two NASA astronauts who will fly on Boeing’s first crewed Starliner spacecraft have arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prepare for their historic launch to the International Space Station on May 6.
Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test commander Butch Wilmore and pilot Sunita Williams landed their NASA T-38 supersonic jet at the space center’s Launch and Landing Facility after a short flight from Houston’s Ellington Field near the Johnson Space Center.
The astronauts will launch to the ISS on Boeing’s Starliner and an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station near KSC. Their one-week mission to the ISS is a final shakedown cruise for Boeing’s Starliner to prove it is ready for operational NASA crew flights. At the end of the mission, Starliner will parachute to Earth and make a land-based landing in the southwestern United States.
