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

Starliner astronauts arrive at launchpad for first crewed flight tonight

By

The Starliner astronauts arrive at the launchpad for the spacecraft's first crewed flight.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams make their way to the Starliner spacecraft. NASA

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have arrived at the Starliner spacecraft that will take them to the International Space Station (ISS) in the first flight for the crew capsule.

Recommended Videos

A ULA Atlas V rocket will carry the Boeing-made Starliner and the two astronauts to orbit in a launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida that’s scheduled for 10:34 p.m. ET tonight.

Related

Digital Trends has full details on how to watch a live stream showing the launch buildup and the early stages of the mission.

Wilmore and Williams had a short chat with family and friends before climbing aboard NASA’s Astrovan for the ride to the Atlas V rocket on the launchpad. Commentators following the proceedings said a TV aboard the van was playing Top Gun: Maverick as it motored its way to the launch site. After the Astrovan arrived, the pair exited the vehicle and walked the short distance to the launchpad. At the time of writing, the two astronauts are settling into the Starliner capsule for their ride to orbit.

The first crewed Starliner flight has been a long time coming. The capsule took its maiden test flight in December 2019, but failed to make it to the ISS after it was unable to reach the proper orbit. The mission surfaced a slew of issues that had to be addressed before a second test flight could take place.

It was eventually ready to fly again in May 2022, and the mission was deemed a success after it managed to reach the ISS, dock, and then return to Earth in a parachute landing. Further technical issues had to be addressed before the Starliner was ready to carry a crew, and barring any last-minute problems, the historic flight should take place in just a few hours’ time.

Wilmore and Williams will thoroughly test all of the Starliner’s systems during their time inside the capsule. They’ll spend about a week aboard the ISS before returning to Earth in the same vehicle. If NASA and Boeing are happy with the crewed test flight, the Starliner will begin carrying crews to and from the space station in the same way that SpaceX has been doing with its Crew Dragon capsule in recent years.

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

Space Perspective preps first crewed balloon flight, with a special guest
space perspective preps first crewed stratospheric balloon flight

Space Perspective is preparing for the first crewed flight of its stratospheric balloon, and Virgin Galactic founder and adventurer Richard Branson will be going along for the ride.

Branson, who together with pilot and engineer Per Lindstrand made record-setting hot-air balloon flights across the Atlantic and the Pacific three decades ago, will serve as a co-pilot on the flight, which Space Perspective is aiming to conduct next year. Space Perspective founders Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter will join Branson as co-pilots aboard the Spaceship Neptune balloon.

Read more
Crew Dragon is about to fly with empty seats for the first time. Here’s why
A Falcon 9 rocket launches from California.

NASA and SpaceX are making final preparations for the Crew-9 astronaut flight to the International Space Station (ISS), which is set to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, September 26.

But this will be the first of SpaceX’s 13 crewed flights to the ISS since the first one in 2020 where there will be two empty seats on the Crew Dragon spacecraft. And there’s a very good reason for that. Let us explain.

Read more
Starliner astronauts speak of ‘tough times’ watching their spacecraft depart without them
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have spoken publicly for the first time since the Boeing Starliner departed from the International Space Station (ISS) without them. In a news conference from the ISS held Friday, the pair spoke about dealing with the uncertainty around whether they could fly home on the Starliner and the adjustment from what they expected to be an eight-day mission to staying on the space station for eight months.

"It was trying at times. There were some tough times, all the way through," Wilmore said. "As the commander and [pilot] of your spacecraft, you don't want to see it go off without you. But that's where we wound up."

Read more