Two NASA astronauts will hitch a ride to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Boeing capsule Monday night, a critical test for the embattled aerospace giant as it launches humans into space for the first time.
Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams are set to blast off from Cape Canaveral in a Boeing Starliner spacecraft at 10:34 pm ET. A livestream of the launch can be viewed below.
Assuming the launch goes as planned, Wilmore and Williams will pilot the Starliner as it docks with the ISS late on Tuesday, then spend a week or so aboard the space station before returning to Earth aboard the same craft.
Monday’s launch marks the inaugural crewed test flight for Starliner, which has been hampered by years of delays and technical glitches. If the mission is successful, NASA will have the option of formally authorizing Boeing to shuttle its crews to and from the ISS—a task that has failed solely to Elon Musk’s SpaceX since 2020.
The Starliner capsule seen atop an Atlas V rocket in the days leading up to its first test mission in December 2019, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft is set to launch its first crewed test flight on Monday.
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NASA’s goal is not to replace SpaceX as its preferred mode of transit, but to add an option for its Commercial Crew Program, the initiative that replaced the Shuttle when it retired in 2011 in efforts to cut costs and outsource the job of ferrying astronauts to the private sector.
A decade ago, with the Shuttle program retired and no replacement on the horizon, NASA awarded Boeing $4.2 billion and SpaceX $2.6 billion to develop commercial crew systems, a measure allowing the US to end reliance on Russia for rides to the ISS. While Boeing was widely expected to beat SpaceX to the space station, SpaceX got there four years earlier and at a cost of $1.5 billion less—a point that Musk himself made ahead of the Starliner launch.
For Boeing, Monday’s test flight is especially significant. The company is engaged in controversy and investigations over quality-control issues at its aviation unit, which came to a head on January 5, when a panel blew off an Alaska Air 737 Max mid-flight. No one was seriously injured, but Boeing shares are down nearly 30 percent since, as added federal oversight has delayed production of its Max jetliners.
The two astronauts counting on Boeing to get them to and from the ISS do not appear concerned, with Wilmore telling reporters last week: “Why do we think it’s as safe as possible? We wouldn’t be standing here if we didn’t. “
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
