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It’s been a rough few years for Boeing, but now the company is about to fly closer to the sun than ever before. After nearly a decade of development and delays, the first crewed launch of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft finally has liftoff. Here’s how to follow its journey live.
The launch is a jointly planned event between Boeing and NASA. It was originally scheduled for Monday, May 6, but was scrubbed due to a propellant valve issue in the Atlas V rocket that was set to take the spacecraft to orbit. A second attempt, on June 1, was aborted due to a fault with the ground launch sequencer, a computer program that runs the launch process. At 10:52 am ET on Wednesday, June 5, the vehicle finally achieved liftoff.
You can now follow the progress of the mission in a few ways. While Starliner travels to the ISS, live mission coverage will be on NASA Television’s media channel. Then from 9:30 am ET on Thursday, June 6, coverage of the spacecraft’s arrival at the ISS will be broadcast on NASA’s official website and YouTube channel, as well as on NASA+, the agency’s subscription service. If you’re on mobile, the stream is also available on the NASA app. The itinerary of the mission is available on NASA’s website, and docking at the space station will happen at 12:15 pm ET on June 6.
You can also rewatch the launch here.
The launch of the Starliner has been a long time coming. With this highly anticipated liftoff, Boeing will officially be the second company (after SpaceX) to partner with NASA to carry humans into space. The Starliner will be crewed by NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who will head to the International Space Station. The plan is for the astronauts to remain there for a week or so, then return to planet Earth, reentering the atmosphere aboard the same craft and then landing under parachutes.
If this mission succeeds, it will also likely be a welcome hit of good news for the troubled aviation company. Boeing has drawn a lot of presumably unwanted attention in recent months, as an array of technical malfunctions on its commercial airline flights have terrified travelers and made headlines. These events come not long after two of Boeing's 737 Max planes crashed in 2018 and 2019. Clearly, Boeing is eager to claw back some public goodwill and write a whole new chapter centered around a future of bringing more people into space.
Updated: 5-6-2024, 10:30 pm EDT: NASA has scrubbed Monday night’s launch and will reschedule.
Updated: 6-5-2024 6:00 pm BST: Starliner launched successfully.
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