Watch this highlight reel chronicling Starliner’s launch day

By Trevor Mogg Published June 6, 2024

A ULA Atlas V rocket transporting the Starliner spacecraft to orbit. — A ULA Atlas V rocket transporting the Starliner spacecraft to orbit lifts off on Wednesday. Boeing Space

After years of delays and multiple launch postponements in recent weeks, Boeing Space’s Starliner spacecraft finally transported its first crew to orbit on Wednesday, June 6.

Recommended Videos

Carried to space by a ULA Atlas V rocket, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are now on their way to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Starliner after lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday morning.

Boeing shared a short highlights reel (below) showing how the launch day unfolded.

Check out the highlights from today's #Starliner #CFT launch atop a @ulalaunch #AtlasV, which lifted off at 10:52 a.m. ET.

Stay tuned for docking with @Space_Station on June 6. pic.twitter.com/8z0KbWxmlO

— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) June 5, 2024

The successful liftoff will come as a big relief to everyone involved, not least Wilmore and Williams, who had already experienced two countdown halts due to technical issues. The most recent of these occurred at the start of this month when the launch was scrubbed with just 3 minutes and 50 seconds remaining before the rocket was set to fire up its engines to begin the long-awaited mission.

Following Wednesday’s flawless liftoff, the Starliner is now well into its first crewed test flight and will dock with the space station today. Wilmore and Williams will spend about a week aboard the orbital outpost before returning home in the Starliner for a parachute-assisted touchdown in the southwestern U.S.

This is the third time the Starliner has flown to space, but the first flight with a crew aboard. Its first flight took place in 2019, but failed to reach the correct orbit to put it on course for the ISS. The mission surfaced a long list of software issues that had to be resolved before the spacecraft could fly again. Eventually it launched again in 2022 and successfully docked with the station, paving the way for the first crewed test.

Assuming the Starliner functions as expected during this current mission, NASA will be able to use the spacecraft for future astronaut flights to and from the space station, giving it another transportation option alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which has been carrying crews since 2020.

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Topics

Tech News

Space

SpaceX will launch Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robot to Mars next year

Optimus Gen 2 humanoid robot by Tesla.

The year 2025 is going to be pivotal for Tesla’s humanoid robot plans, if the words of CEO Elon Musk are to be believed. But next year could mark an astronomical milestone for the company’s Optimus robot, in quite the literal sense.
Taking to X, Musk mentioned in a post that SpaceX will put an Optimus robot on Mars atop its flagship Starship rocket by the end of 2026. Just over a week ago, the Starship broke apart following a launch test, the second such failure this year.
“Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying Optimus,” Musk wrote in a post on X. “If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely.”
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1859078074303713447

This won’t be the first time Musk is making such a claim. Back in November last year, Musk mentioned that SpaceX was capable of sending “several uncrewed Starships” to the red planet within a couple of years and that the payload would include Optimus robots.
Tesla introduced a refined version of the Optimus robot at a glitzy event late in 2024. At the event, Musk told the crowd that Optimus was “the biggest product ever of any kind.” It was later reported that the robots were remotely operated by humans at the event.
Later, during the company’s Q4 2024 earnings calls, Musk shed more light on production plans, adding that the product has a revenue potential higher than $10 trillion. He also mentioned plans to manufacture thousands of humanoid robots in 2025.

Space

Watch SpaceX launch a relief crew for ‘stuck’ Starliner astronauts

At 7:03 p.m. EDT, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, March 14, 2025..

Four astronauts are on their way to the International Space Station (ISS). After several delays, the members of Crew-10 lifted off in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft using a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:03 p.m. ET on Saturday night. The crew includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.

“Congratulations to our NASA and SpaceX teams on the 10th crew rotation mission under our commercial crew partnership. This milestone demonstrates NASA’s continued commitment to advancing American leadership in space and driving growth in our national space economy,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “Through these missions, we are laying the foundation for future exploration, from low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars. Our international crew will contribute to innovative science research and technology development, delivering benefits to all humanity.”

Space

NASA reveals new launch plan for SpaceX’s Crew-10 — here’s how to watch

The crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission.

[UPDATE: SpaceX and NASA scrubbed Wednesday's launch attempt due to a technical issue on the ground. The article below has been updated to include details on the new launch target.]

SpaceX and NASA called off the launch of Crew-10 to the space station on Wednesday evening. They're now targeting 7:03 p.m. ET on Friday, March 14, for the launch of Crew-10 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Read on for full details on how to watch a livestream of the event.