In this articleBAFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTBoeing launched its first Starliner flight with astronauts on Wednesday, beginning a crucial final flight test of the long-delayed spacecraft.The launch took off at 10:52 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with two NASA astronauts aboard. Starliner is carried by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and is bound for the International Space Station.About 15 minutes after launch, the rocket released the Starliner capsule in orbit as planned, with the flight going as expected, according to mission control.A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying two astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner-1 Crew Flight Test is launched on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 5, 2024.Steve Nesius | ReutersNASA’s broadcast of the launch also noted that, although Starliner has cameras onboard to show inside and outside the cabin, Boeing won’t be able to relay video back down to the ground until the spacecraft reaches the ISS.Starliner will fly in space for about 25 hours before a planned docking with the ISS at 12:15 p.m. on Thursday. The astronauts will then spend about a week on the ISS, focused on testing Starliner, before returning to Earth.Boeing’s crew flight test aims to certify the Starliner system as capable of carrying NASA astronauts to-and-from the ISS.Wednesday’s liftoff comes after a series of attempts to launch the mission. On Saturday, a launch attempt was called off in the final minutes of the countdown due to a problem with one of the computers that provides ground support to the rocket. In early May, another attempt was called off due to an issue detected with the rocket itself.Sign up here to receive weekly editions of CNBC’s Investing in Space newsletter.United Launch Alliance – or ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin – replaced the rocket’s problematic valve after the May attempt and replaced a faulty part in the ground infrastructure computer after Saturday’s attempt.The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft sits at the Space Launch Complex 41 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 3, 2024.Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo | AFP | Getty ImagesBetween the two previous launch attempts, NASA and Boeing found a “small” helium leak in Starliner, causing the agency and company to perform another series of assessments.After analysis, NASA and Boeing said the source of the leak was in the spacecraft’s helium propulsion system. But officials said after an investigation that the leak was “stable” and “not a safety of flight issue.”SpaceX competitionStarliner’s crew debut has been delayed by years, while SpaceX’s competing Dragon capsule has flown astronauts for NASA regularly since 2020 under the agency’s Commercial Crew program.To date, Boeing has eaten $1.5 billion in costs due to Starliner setbacks and nearly $5 billion of NASA development funds.A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying two astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner-1 Crew Fli …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnIn this articleBAFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNTBoeing launched its first Starliner flight with astronauts on Wednesday, beginning a crucial final flight test of the long-delayed spacecraft.The launch took off at 10:52 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with two NASA astronauts aboard. Starliner is carried by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and is bound for the International Space Station.About 15 minutes after launch, the rocket released the Starliner capsule in orbit as planned, with the flight going as expected, according to mission control.A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying two astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner-1 Crew Flight Test is launched on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 5, 2024.Steve Nesius | ReutersNASA’s broadcast of the launch also noted that, although Starliner has cameras onboard to show inside and outside the cabin, Boeing won’t be able to relay video back down to the ground until the spacecraft reaches the ISS.Starliner will fly in space for about 25 hours before a planned docking with the ISS at 12:15 p.m. on Thursday. The astronauts will then spend about a week on the ISS, focused on testing Starliner, before returning to Earth.Boeing’s crew flight test aims to certify the Starliner system as capable of carrying NASA astronauts to-and-from the ISS.Wednesday’s liftoff comes after a series of attempts to launch the mission. On Saturday, a launch attempt was called off in the final minutes of the countdown due to a problem with one of the computers that provides ground support to the rocket. In early May, another attempt was called off due to an issue detected with the rocket itself.Sign up here to receive weekly editions of CNBC’s Investing in Space newsletter.United Launch Alliance – or ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin – replaced the rocket’s problematic valve after the May attempt and replaced a faulty part in the ground infrastructure computer after Saturday’s attempt.The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft sits at the Space Launch Complex 41 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 3, 2024.Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo | AFP | Getty ImagesBetween the two previous launch attempts, NASA and Boeing found a “small” helium leak in Starliner, causing the agency and company to perform another series of assessments.After analysis, NASA and Boeing said the source of the leak was in the spacecraft’s helium propulsion system. But officials said after an investigation that the leak was “stable” and “not a safety of flight issue.”SpaceX competitionStarliner’s crew debut has been delayed by years, while SpaceX’s competing Dragon capsule has flown astronauts for NASA regularly since 2020 under the agency’s Commercial Crew program.To date, Boeing has eaten $1.5 billion in costs due to Starliner setbacks and nearly $5 billion of NASA development funds.A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying two astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner-1 Crew Fli …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
