Two NASA astronauts are due to head for the International Space Station aboard a new spacecraft, the BBC reports.
Boeing’s Starliner will blast off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, in its first crewed test flight.
The mission has been delayed for several years because of setbacks in the spacecraft’s development.
If it is successful, it will become the second private firm able to provide crew transport to and from the ISS, alongside Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
NASA no longer wants to own and operate such vehicles, preferring now to buy the service from the commercial sector.
The scheduled lift-off is set for 10.34pm local time on Monday.
But the launch is also a moment of jeopardy for Boeing. Its airline business is under pressure because of a series of accidents. And the firm’s space sector is also under scrutiny following difficulties in developing Starliner itself.
“It’s a really big day for Boeing,” commented Dr Simeon Barber, a space scientist at the Open University.
“The company has been working on the spacecraft for so long, they have had a few problems with the test flights and there’s a lot of riding on this”.
