Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. Space News

NASA and Boeing reveal new date for first crewed Starliner flight

By

NASA and Boeing had been hoping to perform the first crewed flight of the Starliner spacecraft next month, but on Wednesday they announced the mission will now take place no earlier than Friday, July 21.

“While the Starliner spacecraft build is complete, additional time is needed to close out verification and validation work prior to the system’s first flight with crew on board,” Boeing said in a statement posted on its website.

Recommended Videos

The upcoming CST-100 Starliner flight to the International Space Station (ISS) will be crewed by NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Barry Wilmore, with the pair launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Related

The goal of the upcoming mission is to test the end-to-end capabilities of the Starliner system with crew onboard, including everything from rocket launch to landing and recovery.

“Following a successful test flight, Boeing will work to finalize operational readiness for its post-certification missions and NASA will begin the final process of certifying the Starliner spacecraft and systems for regular, crewed missions to the space station,” the space agency said on Wednesday.

The early stages of the Starliner’s development were beset with issues, with its first flight in December 2019 ending in failure due to a slew of technical problems. After much work, however, an uncrewed Starliner successfully docked with the ISS in May last year, paving the way for the upcoming crewed voyage. If everything goes according to plan, NASA will then have a second crew transport vehicle — along with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule — for astronaut trips to and from the ISS.

“We are very proud of the work the team has done,” said Starliner program manager Mark Nappi. “We understand the significance of this mission for both us and NASA. We will launch when we are ready and that includes at a time when the International Space Station can accept our vehicle.”

The Starliner’s development is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, a public-private initiative designed to increase the accessibility of space by bringing together NASA’s decades of experience with new technology developed and built by private firms.

Trevor Mogg
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)…
Topics

Editors’ Recommendations

Watch this surreal aurora footage captured from the space station
An aurora as seen from the space station 250 miles above Earth.

One of the highlights for astronauts who spend time aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is the chance to enjoy breathtaking aurora from some 250 miles above Earth.

The space station’s X account has just shared some stunning footage showing an aurora captured by a camera on the ISS as it traveled over Canada, from west to east.

Read more
NASA to host first ever Twitch stream from International Space Station
NASA astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station.

The job of space agencies like NASA isn't only to research scientific topics and to push forward space exploration -- it's also to communicate with the public about that work, and to get them excited for space research. To that end, NASA frequently hosts events like astronauts in space answering questions from school children, collaborating with citizen science projects, or encouraging amateur astronomers and curious stargazers to participate in astronomical events. Now, the agency's latest push to engage young people is to go where many of them are: on Twitch.

NASA will host its first Twitch event from the International Space Station next week, in a move hoping to draw in a new audience interested in space science and research. The event will have NASA astronauts currently living on the space station talk about their life on board and the work that they're doing, and give Twitch viewers the opportunity to ask them questions.

Read more
That 8-day Starliner space mission is now 233 days in
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

Just before NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams headed to the Starliner spacecraft on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral in Florida in June last year, they will have probably said something to their family and friends along the lines of: “See you next week.”

That's because their stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) was scheduled to last eight days in what was the first crewed flight of the Starliner. But the mission took an unexpected turn when the spacecraft developed several technical issues on the way to the ISS. Fortunately, the capsule managed to dock, and Wilmore and Williams were able to safely board the ISS. However, after weeks of trying to resolve the issues, it was eventually decided that, out of an abundance of caution, the Starliner would be brought home empty.

Read more