Boeing’s space capsule, Starliner, successfully lifted off from Florida on Thursday, May 19. Starliner is now on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) and should arrive on the night of Friday May 20 to Saturday May 21.
With this capsule, the American aeronautics giant, Boeing, seeks to become the second taxi company for NASA astronauts after that of SpaceX.
The two attempts made in 2019 and 2021 failed. The 2019 one failed to dock with the ISS due to software issues, one of which led to it consuming too much fuel to reach its destination, and the other could have destroy the vehicle upon re-entry into the atmosphere. In 2021, the test was canceled before takeoff, due to valves not opening as they should on the launch pad. The capsule had to be sent back to the factory to be repaired.
Starliner does not contain a passenger, only Rosie, a mannequin occupies the cockpit as well as 230 kg of supplies for the 10 astronauts of the ISS.