Boeing Co. may make another attempt to launch its Starliner space taxi to the International Space Station on Wednesday, testing the capsule ahead of its planned first flight with astronauts on board later this year.
A botched effort in late 2019 dented the record of a company that has been at the forefront of U.S. space exploration, including the Apollo missions to the moon. The Starliner is the latest of an array of new rockets, capsules and other vehicles aimed at furthering U.S. ambitions in a new space race to the moon, Mars and beyond.
The Starliner would give the U.S. more options to reach low earth orbit and the space station. U.S. astronauts had to hitch rides on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to get there following the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration opted to outsource a replacement through its Commercial Crew Program and picked Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the formal name for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to provide space taxi services.
The CST-100 Starliner is slated to deliver more than 400 pounds of NASA cargo and crew supplies, and bring back material including oxygen tanks. A mannequin named Rosie the Rocketeer is expected to be on board.
How can I watch the Starliner launch?
NASA plans to live stream the Starliner launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida when the flight occurs. The next possible window for a launch is Wednesday at 12:57 p.m.
