Skip to main content

Boeing launches Starliner spacecraft on crucial test flight

Boeing Space launched its Starliner spacecraft from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Thursday, May 19 using a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket.

The launch, which took place as planned at 6:54 p.m. ET (3:54 p.m. PT), is the second attempt at flying the spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) following a failed mission in December 2019 when the Starliner was unable to reach the intended orbit.

Recommended Videos

See views from the Space Launch Complex-41 launch pad and spacecraft separation during today's #Starliner #OFT2 liftoff atop a @ulalaunch #AtlasV. Stay tuned for docking with @Space_Station on May 20. pic.twitter.com/Ztjs36IwQf

— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) May 20, 2022

Sixteen minutes after leaving the launchpad, Mission Control confirmed that the uncrewed Starliner had successfully separated from the ULA booster and was flying in space by itself.

A short while later, confirmation came through that the Starliner had executed its injection burn to achieve the desired orbit.

Thank you for the incredible boost to orbit, @ulalaunch!

Go Atlas! Go Centaur! Go Starliner! https://t.co/cfTfxdSYBs

— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) May 19, 2022

The plan is for the Starliner spacecraft to dock with the space station on Friday, where it deliver supplies and equipment to astronauts aboard the orbiting outpost. The spacecraft will remain at the ISS for between five and ten days before returning to Earth in a parachute-assisted landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

“The flight test, which includes orbital maneuvering, International Space Station rendezvous, docking, undocking, and landing operations, will validate all of the critical systems and capabilities ahead of Boeing’s first flight carrying astronauts to and from the ISS,” Boeing said earlier this week.

If the mission is deemed a success, the crewed test flight will send the Starliner on the same route to and from the ISS. The hope is for that mission to take place within the next 12 months.

A successful crewed mission will pave the way for NASA to use the spacecraft for future astronaut flights to and from the space station. This would give NASA another transportation option alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, which has been conducting regular astronaut flights since 2020.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
The Boeing Starliner still isn’t ready to come home
Boeing's Starliner capsule docked at the ISS.

The saga of Boeing's Starliner continues. The spacecraft, intended to ferry astronauts between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS), is currently performing its first crewed test flight, but what was supposed to be a one-week test has turned into a multiweek debacle.

Though the two astronauts who traveled on the Starliner, NASA's Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are in no danger, they have been stuck on the ISS for seven weeks now. NASA insists that they are not stranded and that they could use the Starliner to travel back to Earth in the case of an emergency, but concerns about the performance of the Starliner mean they still have no planned return date.

Read more
Yes, the ‘8-day’ Starliner mission is now in its seventh week
Boeing Space's Starliner docked at the International Space Station in June 2024.

Boeing Space's Starliner docked at the International Space Station in 2024. NASA

Boeing Space’s Starliner spacecraft delivered its first crew to the International Space Station (ISS) in early June in a mission that was supposed to last about eight days.

Read more
Boeing and NASA in no rush to bring Starliner astronauts back from space station
NASA’s Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams giving an interview on board the International Space Station on Wednesday July 10.

NASA’s Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams givie an interview on board the International Space Station on Wednesday, July 10. NASA TV

Two NASA astronauts will remain on the International Space Station (ISS) for at least several more weeks, as testing continues on the troubled Boeing Starliner that carried them to the station on its first crewed test flight. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are safe on the station and, NASA insists, not stranded, but they will not yet be returning home due to thruster issues with their spacecraft.

Read more